JOHN DEWEY IN CHINA

SUNY series in Chinese Philosophy and Culture

Roger T. Ames, editor

JOHN DEWEY
IN CHINA
To Teach and to Learn

E
Jessica Ching-Sze Wang

STATE UNIVERSITY OF NEW YORK PRESS

Photo of John Dewey and Alice Chipman Dewey with Hu Shih and
Tao Xingzhi in Nanjing, China (1920), used with the permission of
Special Collections Research Center, Morris Library, Southern Illinois
University at Carbondale, U.S.A.
Published by
State University of New York Press, Albany
2007 State University of New York
All rights reserved
Printed in the United States of America
No part of this book may be used or reproduced in any manner
whatsoever without written permission. No part of this book may
be stored in a retrieval system or transmitted in any form or by any
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For information, contact
State University of New York Press,
www.sunypress.edu, Albany, NY
Production by Marilyn P. Semerad
Marketing by Michael Campochiaro
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Wang, Jessica Ching-Sze.
John Dewey in China : to teach and to learn / Jessica Ching-Sze Wang.
p. cm. (Suny series in Chinese philosophy and culture)
Includes bibliographical references and index.
ISBN 978-0-7914-7203-3 (hardcover : alk. paper)
1. Dewey, John, 18591952. 2. Social sciencesPhilosophy. 3. EducationPhilosophy.
4. Political sciencePhilosophy. 5. United StatesForeign relationsChina. 6. China
Foreign relationsUnited States. I. Title.
B945.D44C44 2007
191dc22
2006036597

10

CONTENTS

E
Acknowledgments

vii

Chapter 1. Dewey and May Fourth China

Enacting a Historical Drama
Rethinking Deweys Visit in China
The Encounter between Dewey and China: Then and Now
Overview of Upcoming Chapters

Chapter 2. Dewey as a Teacher

1
1
5
8
9

13

Dewey as a Modern Confucius

Dewey as Mr. Science
Dewey as Mr. Democracy
Dewey as the Common Peoples Educator
Dewey as a Democratic Teacher
Whose Teaching? Or Hus Teaching?

14
15
16
20
22
30

Chapter 3. The Reception of Dewey in China

41

The Dewey Fad

Marxist Challenges to Deweys Social and Political Philosophy
Traditionalist Responses to Deweys Educational Philosophy
Reconsidering The Dewey Experiment

Chapter 4. Dewey as a Learner

42
46
53
62

65

Dewey as a Political Commentator

Dewey as a Goodwill Ambassador
Dewey as a Cultural Anthropologist
A Fruitful Journey to the East

66
70
74
83

Chapter 5. The Influence of China on Deweys Social and

Political Philosophy
Rethinking Internationalism
Replacing the State with the Public
Reconstructing Democracy
Mapping Out a Future for Confucian Democracy
v

87
87
93
102
115

vi

contents

Chapter 6. Continuing the Dialogue on Dewey and China

121

Notes

125

Bibliography

141

Index

149

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

E
My study on John Deweys visit to China could not have been possible
without the assistance and support of many individuals. First, I would
like to thank Dr. Roger Ames and Dr. Jim Tiles for introducing me to this
important topic and for offering constructive feedback throughout the
years. I am especially indebted to Dr. Ames for encouraging me to convert my dissertation into a book and recommending my work to the State
University of New York Press.
My greatest debt is to Dr. Barry Bull, my dissertation advisor. His
guidance has been a tremendous help in developing my ideas. I especially
appreciated his editorial suggestions on the various drafts. His strong
sense of duty as an academic is exemplary. I also want to thank the other
members of my dissertation committee, Dr. Luise McCarty, Dr. Jeff Wasserstrom, and Dr. Don Warren. I am particularly grateful to Dr. McCarty,
whose constant warmth and support made my life as a graduate student
a very enjoyable and rewarding experience. I am also very fortunate to
have met Dr. Wasserstrom, whose scholarly expertise and personal generosity have contributed greatly to the development of my research.
My work has also beneted substantially from informal conversations with other scholars. Special thanks to Dr. Heidi Ross for inspiring
the subtitle of my book, to Dr. David Wong for acknowledging the contribution of my work, to Dr. Vera Schwarcz for sharing her insights about
May Fourth China, and above all, to Dr. Jim Garrison for sharpening my
understanding about John Dewey. I also want to thank my two readers at
SUNY Press. Their thoughtful comments helped improve the revision of
the manuscript. In addition, my conversations with Dr. Larry Hickman
and Dr. Matthew Pamental were very helpful for the revision. The content of the nal printed book, however, is my own responsibility.
I would like to acknowledge the assistance of several institutions that
have made the completion of my work possible. First, I am grateful to the
EastWest Center for sponsoring my two-year study at the University
of Hawaii and for making my dream to study in the United States come
true. I would also like to express my deepest gratitude to the School of
Education at Indiana University, Bloomington, for providing a four-year
Chancellors fellowship that enabled me to complete my graduate studies without nancial worries, and to the Chiang Ching-kuo Foundation
vii

viii

acknowledgments

for its dissertation fellowship that allowed me to concentrate on writing for one year. I am also thankful to the Center for Dewey Studies at
Southern Illinois University for assisting me with the collection of materials. Finally, I am grateful to my colleges and students at the National
Chiayi University in Taiwan for providing a friendly and comfortable
work environment that helped me complete the manuscript. In addition,
I would like to thank Purdue University Press for granting me permission to reprint the following material in chapter four: Jessica Ching-Sze
Wang, John Dewey as a Learner in China, in E&C / Education and Culture 21 (1) (2005): 5973.
My acknowledgments would not be complete without mentioning those who are close to me. I want to thank my parents, my husband,
Hsiao-tzu Yang, and my best friend, Meichun, for their unyielding love
and support. I also want to express gratitude to the following people who
assisted me in various ways during the revision of the manuscript: my
friends, Vincent and Mira, and my teaching assistant, Suechin. I also have
to thank my best teachers, Ms. Deborah Brody in particular, for making a
difference in my life. Finally, I am indebted to John Dewey for living out
his own philosophy. I dedicate this book to him.

chapter 1

D E W E Y A N D M AY F O U R T H C H I N A

Enacting a Historical Drama

The American philosopher John Dewey visited China in May 1919 and
departed in July 1921. Coinciding with the well-known May Fourth
movement, Deweys two-year visit demarcated a signicant episode
in the history of intellectual exchange between China and the United
States. In a narrow sense, the May Fourth movement refers to the student demonstration in Beijing on May 4, 1919, in protest of the Versailles
Peace Conference. In a broader sense, it represented a vast modernization movement from 1917 through 1921, which sought to reform China
through intellectual and social means.1 Interestingly, history creates
its own dramas. Had the movement not occurred in May 1919, Dewey
might not have lingered in China for two years and two months. To
understand the signicance of Deweys encounter with May Fourth
Chinawhere it all began and how it unfoldedwe need to place his
visit in a larger historical context, namely, the history of contact between
China and the modern West.
China began to enter truly into the Western consciousness in the sixteenth century as a land of tea and a potential kingdom of God. At the
beginning of their contact, the West was a learner as well as a suppliant. It attempted to seek close relations with China to advance its trade
and enrich its culture.2 Nevertheless, China long remained indifferent to
Western inuence. In 1793 a British ambassador arrived in China to establish formal diplomatic relations and open more sea ports for trade. However, in his letter to British King George III, the Ching Emperor Qianlong
stated, we have never valued ingenious articles, nor do we have the

john dewey in china

slightest need of your countrys manufactures. He wrote to the British

king, Simply act in conformity with our wishes by strengthening your
loyalty and swearing perpetual obedience so as to ensure that your country may share the blessings of peace.3
Ironically, peace was not to follow from the emperors complacent,
isolationist stance in the face of increasing aggression on the part of foreign traders and diplomats. The glorious past of Chinese civilization was
soon to pale before the technological advancement of the West. Beginning
in the mid-nineteenth century, China faced a series of military defeats,
starting with the rst Opium War with Great Britain (18391842), continuing with the second Opium War with Great Britain and France (18561860),
and culminating in the most humiliating of all, the Sino-Japanese War
(18941895), in which China fell at the hands of a neighbor who for centuries
had paid tribute to the imperial court of China and revered her as a cultural model. These devastating defeats led to the signing of an array of
unequal treaties that forced China to concede many of her territorial and
sovereignty rights. Barely a century after the Qianlong emperors edict,
the young Guangxu emperor issued a new imperial statement in 1898,
acknowledging that the methods of government inaugurated by Sung
and Ming dynasties, upon investigation, reveal nothing of any practical
use. . . . Changes must be made to accord with the necessities of times.4
The transformation of Chinas attitude toward the West was most evident
in the 1901 edict in which the Empress Dowager was reported to have
recognized the necessity of appropriating the good qualities of foreign
nations so that the shortcomings of China may be supplemented, and
that the experiences of the past may serve a lesson for the future.5
The Opium War with Great Britain marked a turning point in the
history of contact between China and the West. Before the war, the exchange had always been on Chinas terms, but after the war, it was on
the Wests terms. Antiforeign feelings naturally arose. In 1900 the Boxer
Uprising erupted, starting as a peasant uprising in Shandong that aimed
to drive foreigners out of China. The so-called boxers practiced martial
arts and believed that certain talismans would protect them from foreign
rearms. The movement gradually spread to Beijing, where the boxers,
encouraged by Empress Dowager, began to burn down churches and
foreign residences and to kill Chinese Christians and Western missionaries. Finally, internationally organized troops wrested control of Beijing
from the boxers and released all hostages, thus putting an end to this
violent and disastrous confrontation between Chinese and foreigners.6
The Boxer Uprising resulted not only in the imperial courts reform but
also in a settlement that required China to pay a huge indemnity to Russia, Germany, France, Great Britain, and the United States. Nonetheless,
at this low point in Sino-Western relations, Western powers did not have

Dewey and May Fourth China

a uniform approach to China. During the Boxer crisis, they reacted with
varying degrees of sternness toward the Chinese.7 The U.S. government
was sympathetic to the Chinese while attempting to protect its own interests. A few years after the signing of the nal settlement, the U.S. government returned a large portion of its share of the indemnity payments
on the condition that the money should be used to fund scholarships for
study in the United States.
One of the most important episodes in the history of intellectual exchange between China and the United States was to grow out of this effort of the U.S. government to promote the education of Chinas young
elites. Hu Shih, Deweys chief disciple in China, received a scholarship
from the indemnity funds to study in the United States in 1910. Had it not
been for the scholarship, Hu could not have studied at Columbia under
the tutelage of Dewey.8 Had it not been for Hus close acquaintance with
Dewey, Dewey could not have been the rst foreign scholar to be formally
invited to lecture in China in 1919. Nonetheless, we have so far answered
only half of a puzzle about Deweys encounter with China, namely, what
brought Hu Shih to Dewey. The other half of the puzzle concerns what
initially brought Dewey to the Far East.
In the fall of 1918, Dewey was on a sabbatical leave from Columbia University and was teaching at the University of California at Berkeley. Because Dewey and his wife, Alice, were geographically nearer to
Asia than they would otherwise have been, they thought they might as
well take this opportunity and travel to Japan in the spring. Dewey also
agreed to this plan because this trip might help cure Alices longtime
depression over the death of their son on a trip to Italy.9 When two of
Deweys Japanese acquaintances learned that he was planning a trip to
Japan, they arranged for him to deliver a series of lectures at Tokyo Imperial University. When Hu Shih and other former students of Dewey
at Columbia University learned of Deweys visit to Japan, they tried to
contact him there and invited him to spend a year in China as a visiting
scholar. Dewey was very glad to receive their invitation. He entertained
the idea of visiting China in the summer before returning to the United
States, but he did not know how long he could stay. Columbia University might not grant him a leave of absence for a full year. However, this
seemed like an attractive plan to Dewey because he thought, In a year
one could begin to learn something of the East.10 Even though Dewey
received the notication from Columbia on April 15 that his leave of absence was approved, he did not promise to stay a year in China until he
arrived there in person. He needed to evaluate the prospects in China to
make an informed decision.
This was not an easy decision. Dewey told his children, Every other
day I have cold feet about the whole proposition because many people

john dewey in china

warned him about making contract with the Chinese.11 Dewey had nancial concerns because he had always been close to being poor.12 In fact,
he could not have afforded the trip to Japan if his close friend, Albert C.
Barnes, had not offered nancial support. Barnes proposed to pay Dewey
a monthly stipend on the condition Dewey make a report on Japan as
a factor in the future international relation.13 Apart from nancial insecurity, Dewey was also concerned about the program his disciples were
arranging for him. In a letter to his son, Dewey wrote:
My former Chinese students seem to be making as elaborate plans
for our reception as we have enjoyed here. The only trouble is that
I shall have to lecture all the time to help even up. I dont know the
program exactly, but I know it calls for lectures in Shanghai, Nanking
and Peking and I assume other places. You look up your geography
and you will see how far apart the places are.14

Although Dewey had mixed feelings about the proposed plan of his
one-year visit in China, Hu Shih was busy laying the groundwork for
his reception.
On May 1, 1919, Dewey expressed excitement upon arrival in China.
We are going to see more of the dangerous daring side of life here I predict, he wrote. We are very obviously in the hands of young China. What
it will do with us makes us laugh to anticipate. He added, Nothing worries us. . . . We ought to have a very good time. Quite unlike anything in
Japan.15 For Dewey, Japan seemed like a land of reserves and reticence
(MW 11: 174).16 He was delighted to nd that the social atmosphere in
China was much more open and free owing. The signicant differences
Dewey perceived between Japan and China led him to remark, every
American who goes to Japan ought also to visit Chinaif only to complete his education (MW 11: 179). Dewey was right about the dangerous
daring side of life in China. Three days after he made this remark, Dewey
learned of a serious student revolt that broke out in Beijing.
On May 4, 1919, from which the May Fourth movement took its name,
more than 3,000 students in Beijing held a mass demonstration against
the decision of the Versailles Peace Conference to transfer German concessions in Shantung to Japan. With their dream of world peace shattered by
this unjust decision, the students were mortied and outraged. To protest
against Japanese imperialism and government corruption, they took to
the streets, burned the house of one corrupt, pro-Japanese ofcial, and
physically assaulted another. The students expression of patriotism and
zeal for reform triggered similar demonstrations throughout China in the
few weeks that followed. Several students were killed in these incidents,
and many were arrested. In big cities, people went on general strikes to

Dewey and May Fourth China

support the students and promoted boycotts against Japanese goods. Seeing that public opinion was on the side of the students, the government
agreed to release those who were jailed. Nevertheless, this was not enough
to appease the students. They refused to leave the jail unless the government agreed to dismiss corrupt ofcials, reject the signing of the Versailles
peace treaty, and allow freedom of speech at public gatherings.
Deweys response to the May Fourth movement was more than enthusiastic; the social energies being released galvanized him. As Dewey
wrote to his children in June 1919, never in our lives had we begun to
learn as much as in the last four months. And the last month particularly,
there has been too much food to be digestible.17 Indeed, the May Fourth
movement was Chinas gift to Dewey. It kept him excited, involved, puzzled, and, at times, frustrated. It was also intellectual bait that enticed
Dewey to stay in China for a full year, and later, to extend his stay for
a second year. Dewey said, To the outward eye roaming in search of
the romantic and picturesque, China is likely to prove a disappointment.
To the eye of the mind it presents the most enthralling drama now anywhere enacting (MW 11: 215). On the Chinese stage, Dewey was both a
spectator and a player. His roles were multiple, depending on who was
directing, watching, and judging. However, the existing literature fails to
capture the full story of Deweys visit in China.

Rethinking Deweys Visit in China

The 1920s demarcates an important period in the life of John Dewey: his
trips to Japan, China, Russia, Mexico, and Turkey undoubtedly broadened his horizon and enriched his understanding of world cultures. Of
all the foreign countries Dewey visited, China is where he stayed the
longest and about which he wrote the most extensively. However, this
particular phase in the life and work of Dewey has been largely ignored
and, even when taken seriously, misunderstood. Compared to the huge
bulk of literature on Dewey and his voluminous works, studies on Deweys encounter with China are meager. Only two major books have been
published, and only one issue has been raised and studied, namely, how
Dewey inuenced China.
The rst book was published in 1973, Lectures in China, 19191920.
It originated from a research project of the EastWest Center to translate Deweys lectures into English. In their introduction to the book,
Clopton and Ou assert that Deweys inuence on Chinese education was
profound and extensive.18 According to Ou, [n]o dissenting views
were ever voiced during the time of Deweys visit nor for many years
afterwards. Dewey became the highest educational authority in China.19
The second book, Barry Keenans The Dewey Experiment in China, was

john dewey in china

published in 1977. Keenan claims that Deweyan experimentalism, as a

way of thinking, as a way of acting politically, and as a component of
democratic education, offered no strategies his followers could use to affect political power.20 Owing to a serious lack of subsequent research,
Keenans book has been regarded as the single most authoritative account of Deweys visit in China.
However, the conclusions of these early worksthat Dewey contributed greatly to the modernization of Chinese education but failed
to inuence political change in Chinaare seriously problematic. Ous
claim about Deweys inuence on Chinese education, if not entirely inadequate, is simplistic at best because it is primarily based on the evidence of external institutional changes. According to Suzanne Pepper,
the Chinese school system from 1900 to 1937 was in constant ux; Chinas
education reform was characterized by a supercial copying of foreign
educational systemsrst Japanese, then American, and French.21 No
data are available to ascertain how these policy changes affected actual
classroom practices.
Although a pioneering historical study, Keenans book provides only
supercial treatment of Dewey. He focuses largely on the frustrated attempts of Deweys disciples to apply his ideas to the reform of China,
while treating Dewey and his philosophy as distant background. Keenan
fails to do justice to Dewey as a philosopher by ignoring his unique perspective on what was happening to and around him. Above all, the assumption about the Dewey experimentthat his visit was intended to
bring about dramatic changemakes Dewey an easy target. It is not fair
to expect a foreign philosopher to resolve the social and political problems
of China. Although Keenans underlying portrait of Dewey as a savior
may have captured the wishful thinking of many Chinese at that time, it
was inconsistent with Deweys character and his own intentions. Dewey
would not want his ideas to be simply accepted and copied. In Transforming the Mind of China, written in late 1919, Dewey clearly stated
that Chinas development toward democracy must be a transforming
growth from within, rather than either an external superimposition or
a borrowing from foreign sources (MW 11: 213). In a letter he wrote to
a colleague at Columbia University, Dewey perceived his inuence as
nothing more than a sort of outside reinforcement . . . to the young or
liberal element . . . in spite of its vagueness.22
Nonetheless, under the inuence of these early studies, Dewey scholars today have serious misconceptions about his visit to China. In his
inuential book, John Dewey and American Democracy (1991), Robert Westbrook cites Keenans critique of Dewey and comments that Chinese
Deweyans suffered from the same strategic weakness as Deweys own
hopes to make the school the unsteepled church of democracy.23 In John

Dewey and May Fourth China

Dewey and the High Tide of American Liberalism (1995), Alan Ryan accepts
the view about Deweys immense popularity in China and attributes it to
the inherent commonalities between Deweys vision of democracy and
Confucian ideals of family and community loyalty.24 Ryans explanation
is problematic in that he fails to consider that the May Fourth movement
was noted for its antitraditionalism. In fact, Dewey was well received because he was thought to represent an alternative to Confucianism. Ryan
also assumes the similarities between Dewey and Confucius to be the
reason why Dewey was more popular than Bertrand Russell, who was
also visiting China at that time. However, the assumption about Deweys
greater popularity remains to be examined.
A survey of the existing literature leaves one with the impression that
no interesting issues beyond the extent of Deweys inuence on China
are worth examining. The important question of what Dewey was experiencing, thinking, and learning while he was in China has not been
addressed. According to Deweys own daughter, his time in China had
a deep and enduring inuence upon him.25 No matter what inuence
Dewey may have had on China, this visit was a vital part of his own
education. As Dewey himself wrote in a letter, I prize highly the unusual
opportunity to get some acquaintance with Oriental thought and conditions.26 In one article Dewey stated, Simply as an intellectual spectacle,
a scene for study and surmise, for investigation and speculation, there is
nothing in the world todaynot even Europe in the throes of reconstructionthat equals China. History records no parallel (MW 13: 94). The
intellectual interest China presented to Dewey was indeed phenomenal.
However, neither Keenans book nor subsequent studies address Deweys
own learning in China. In his recent biography of Dewey, The Education of
John Dewey (2002), Jay Martin writes that Dewey had become a changed
person, or more precisely, an evolving person after his visit to China, but
Martin does not elaborate specically on how Dewey was changed.27 We
now need to ask the question of how China may have inuenced Dewey
rather than how Dewey inuenced China.
My book attempts to answer several important questions that have
remained largely unexamined. For instance, how was Dewey received
and understood by the Chinese? What were Deweys own thoughts and
reections on his experiences in China? How did the visit relate to the
larger context of his life and work? How did it affect the subsequent
development of Deweys philosophy? The testimony of Deweys Chinese disciples and supporters have greatly inuenced current scholarly
opinion. A study of archival documents in China reveals that left-wing
radicals and right-wing traditionalists received Deweys ideas critically.
To explore Deweys learning experiences in China, we need to look into
the letters Dewey exchanged with his children, colleagues, and friends

john dewey in china

during his stay. We also need to examine some forty articles Dewey
wrote for the New Republic and Asia, which Walter Lippmann praised as
models of what political reporting ought to be.28 Alan Ryan was wrong
to assume that these articles merely dealt with momentarily important
issues that now interest only the historians of international relations.29
A close reading of these articles, in conjunction with a careful study of
Deweys political writings, shows that his visit to China had a signicant
impact on the development of his social and political philosophy.
My book draws heavily on historical materials that have been made
available through a research trip to China and through the publication of
Deweys lifetime correspondence. These materials do not simply add to
the pool of evidence already available; they allow us to reread formerly
available materials from new perspectives. They enable us to unravel the
complexities and volatilities of Deweys reception in China and the richness of his own experiences. In short, these materials help deepen our
understanding of Deweys encounter with China, especially where it concerns his reception by the general public, his own learning, and its impact
on his philosophy.

The Encounter between Dewey and China: Then and Now

The encounter between Dewey and China in the 1920s was characterized
by ambivalences, uncertainties, and changes on both sides. Faced with
challenges from the West, Chinese intellectuals had initially sought to
acquire Western technology and implement Western institutions. Later,
they realized that they had to study the ideas that inform Western development and practice. This meant that Chinese intellectual tradition could
no longer remain intact and unimpaired. On the basis of this realization,
the May Fourth intelligentsia savagely attacked their Confucian tradition.
Early opposition to this antitraditionalist, iconoclastic trend was feeble.
However, toward the end of the May Fourth period, especially after 1921,
traditionalist sentiments, fermented by nationalistic feelings, were beginning to gain momentum.30 Dewey correctly characterized the intellectual
landscape as vexed by confusion, uncertainty, mutual criticism and hostility among the various tendencies. During the two years of his stay,
Dewey came into contact with these contending ideologies that made
Young China an ambiguous term, signifying all kinds of contradictory
aspirations (MW 13: 112). Examining the reception of Deweys ideas in
China will show how these uncertainties and contradictions among Chinese intellectuals affected their views of Dewey.
Although Chinese intellectuals had ambivalent attitudes toward
the West, Dewey had his doubts about how the United States should
respond to China, or rather, how the United States could help China.

Dewey and May Fourth China

As demonstrated herein, Dewey was trying to understand China and

its precarious position in the international world, while Chinese intellectuals were trying to understand Dewey and his position in their ideological battles. Dewey was eventually able to understand China on its
own terms and to propose thoughtful suggestions concerning the United
States responsibility to China. On the other hand, many Chinese created
images of Dewey on their own terms to meet their own needs. Changes
in Deweys views about China resulted from his own learning and reection, whereas shifting views of Dewey among Chinese intellectuals
reected their deep-seated frustrations with contemporary events that
led either to increasing radicalism or to conservatism.
The dialogue between Dewey and China has been ongoing and tends
to be shaped by the historical circumstances and dominant ideologies of
each era. In the 1920s, Chinese opinions of Dewey reected their own
vexed interests in liberalism, neotraditionalism, and Marxism. In the
1930s and 1940s, as China underwent a series of domestic and international wars, a natural eclipse of interest in Dewey occurred. Since the
establishment of the Communist regime in 1949, the dialogue between
Dewey and China took a drastic turn. In the 1950s and 1960s, the Chinese Communist government launched a large-scale campaign to purge
the pragmatic inuences of Hu Shih and Dewey. During this period,
pragmatism was eschewed as an evil inuence of Western imperialism
and capitalism. In the 1980s, due to the Reform and Open Door policy
of China, the dialogue about Dewey was revived.31 Since then, Chinese
scholars have started to reevaluate Dewey and pragmatism.32 In fact, between 1999 and 2001, three collections of Deweys lectures in China were
reprinted. At the turn of the twenty-rst century, China is ready to review
and rethink her past. Before we applaud the resurgence of scholarly interest in Dewey and his inuence on Chinese philosophy and modern
education, we need to return to the original encounter in the 1920s and
explore the unique story of Deweys visit from his own perspective as a
teacher and a learner.

Overview of Upcoming Chapters

The chapters that follow present a combination of biography and philosophy to correct misrepresentations of Dewey in the existing literature and
to cast a new light on his philosophy. Although my study draws on the
intellectual and political history of China, particularly during the May
Fourth era, I do not wish to suggest that it is a complete account of that
period. I offer my interpretations as an attempt to understand what happened to Dewey in China. Therefore, I focus on the views of Dewey and
those directly or indirectly associated with him.

10

john dewey in china

Chapter two examines Deweys role as a teacher during his visit, focusing on what Dewey said to the Chinese, what kind of teacher he was,
and how he compared to Bertrand Russell. The contents of Deweys lectures are examined in relation to the particular images associated with him,
such as Mr. Science, Mr. Democracy, and as the common peoples educator. Dewey is then examined as a benevolent and democratic teacher. In
addition, I discuss the problem of translation in Deweys lectures, asking
whether the Chinese texts of Deweys lectures were unequivocal representations of what he said. Possible discrepancies in Hu Shihs translation point
to the danger of evaluating Dewey based solely on these lectures without
looking into his own writings in English. Moreover, I explore important
differences between Dewey and his chief disciple and Chinese translator,
Hu Shih. Hus cultural and intellectualistic approach to reform diverged
from Deweys more practical and pragmatic stance. Hus proposal for
full-scale Westernization also runs a sharp contrast to Deweys advice for
China. Dewey hoped that China would not imitate the West blindly but
would rely on its own cultural strengths to transform itself from within.
Having differentiated Dewey from Hu, I contend that one should not hold
Dewey accountable for Hus reform ideas. Instead, one should seek to discover and evaluate Deweys ideas in their own right. In addition, I discuss
the controversial question of whether Hu Shih was a true pragmatist and
whether his pragmatist experiment in China could offer us some insights
about the challenges for pragmatism in the global context.
Chapter three looks at the reception of Deweys ideas in China. First,
I present a chronological account of Deweys reception during his stay, focusing on the enthusiasm on his arrival, followed by a slight decline in
mid-1920 owing to Russells rivalry and an increasing radicalism among
Chinese intellectuals. Then I continue to examine critical responses to
Dewey after his departure, focusing on the reception of Deweys social
and political thought and educational theories. Socialists and Marxists
challenged Deweys social and political philosophy, whereas traditionalists criticized his educational ideas. Some of the criticisms were ideological accusations, whereas others result from underlying differences in
cultural beliefs and practices. The chapter concludes by returning to the
theme of the Dewey Experiment in China. In one sense, the experiment really existed, granted that a wide range of Chinese intellectuals
experimented with Dewey as a symbol of their own conicting desires.
Dewey was co-opted by liberals, traditionalists and socialists alike, all using him to validate their own ideas or to attack their enemies. As a result,
Dewey meant different things to different people. Finally, I present my
own rendering of the Dewey experimentone that Dewey himself was
conducting. Determined to understand China on its own terms, the U.S.
philosopher undertook himself to dissect the problem of Eurocentrism.

Dewey and May Fourth China

11

Chapter four looks at Dewey as a learner, featuring his role as a political commentator, a goodwill ambassador, and a cultural anthropologist. I discuss Deweys evolving views about the May Fourth movement,
the responsibility of the United States in the Far East, and Chinese ways
of life. Dewey wrote thoughtfully and insightfully about China. His intellectual curiosity and open-mindedness were exemplary for those interested in intercultural understanding. In his long sojourn, Dewey came
to understand Chinese social and political psychology and philosophy
of life. At the same time, he also learned about the Westits Eurocentric
worldviews, its secret diplomacy, and its sense of superiority as an international political and cultural force. Finally, I discuss the meanings of
Deweys journey in the larger context of his personal life and work.
Chapter ve contends that Deweys learning in China contributed
to his evolving thought about internationalism, the relations between
the public and the state, and most important, about the distinction between democracy as a form of government and democracy as an ideal
community. I compare Deweys social and political writings prior to his
visit to China with his later works, arguing that Deweys contact with the
communal culture of China reinforced his belief about the essential value
of community for democracy. His visit gave him the opportunity to cast
aside the institutional baggage of Western democracy and to emphasize
the idea of community life as a more secure foundation for democracy.
This chapter ends with the implications of my study for the recent scholarship on Deweyan pragmatism and classical Confucianism, demonstrating that Deweys own observations and appraisals of Chinese society can
lend credence to the notion of Confucian democracy for China.
Chapter six offers suggestions for future research on Dewey and
China. I believe that my work opens up new dimensions in Dewey scholarship. One may reinvestigate Deweys relationships with his Chinese
disciples or other Chinese intellectuals. One may also study the potential
link between the entire body of Deweys later philosophy and his visit
to China, engage Dewey and Confucius in a dialogue on democracy, or
explore the relevance of Deweys reections on internationalism to contemporary ethics of globalization.

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chapter 2

DEWEY AS A TEACHER

As a teacher, Dewey taught the Chinese everything he knew. The corpus

of his lectures in China consists of seven lecture series and myriad occasional talks, amounting to nearly 200 lectures. His lecture series delivered
in Beijing, which Hu Shih translated, include Social and Political Philosophy, Philosophy of Education, Ethics, Types of Thinking, and
Three Contemporary Philosophers. His other two lecture series delivered in Nanjing address The History of Philosophy and Experimental
Logic. The topics of his occasional lectures are often related to education
and schooling.
All of these lectures were interpreted and recorded in Chinese as
Dewey delivered them and were later printed in newspapers and reprinted in periodicals. In addition to these lectures, Deweys own books,
including School and Society (1899), Schools of Tomorrow (1915), Democracy
and Education (1916), and Reconstruction in Philosophy (1920), were translated into Chinese and made available to the public during the early
1920s. As the rst foreign scholar to be invited formally to lecture in
China, Dewey became an instant celebrity. Wherever he went, he drew
hundreds, and sometimes thousands, of people to his lectures. As one
U.S. journalist in Shanghai reported, It may be guessed that by means of
the spoken and the written, or printed, word Professor Dewey has said
his say to several hundred thousand Chinese.1 To the Chinese, Deweys
lectures held the secrets to modern progress. If they could only know
those secrets, they could build a modern China as powerful and prosperous as the United States.

13

14

john dewey in china

Dewey as a Modern Confucius

In October 19, 1919, a banquet was held in Beijing to celebrate Deweys
sixtieth birthdaywhich happened to fall on the same day as the lunar birthday of Confucius. At the banquet, the Chancellor of Beijing
University, Cai Yuanpei, seized on this special opportunity to portray
Dewey as a modern-day Confucius. In his brief speech, Cai emphasized underlying similarities between Dewey and Confucius despite
their differences: one embodies the spirit of modern West, and the other
represents the wisdom of ancient China; one values democracy, equality, and creativity, and the other privileges monarchy, hierarchy, and
tradition. According to Cai, Dewey and Confucius were both educators of the common people, shared the same faith in education as a vehicle for social change, and insisted on the unity of thought and action.
Cai believed that these commonalities pointed to the possibility of a
merger between Eastern and Western cultures.2 Interestingly, Dewey
did not enjoy the honoric title exclusivelyBertrand Russell was also
esteemed by his Chinese hosts as the Second Confucius.3 However, in
terms of temperament and thought, Dewey was far more congenial to
Confucius than Russell, who actually favored Daoism over Confucianism and found Confucius boring.4
Regardless of whether the comparison of Dewey to Confucius was
appropriate, it took on a unique meaning in May Fourth China. Dewey
was expected to take the discredited place of Confucius and assert himself as the new intellectual icon. Deweys presence as the embodiment
of Western modernity served as a potent source of inspiration for May
Fourth intellectuals who were eager to jettison their old tradition and
follow the Western path. The spirit of iconoclasm was best exemplied
in Chen Duxiu, who proclaimed, to follow Mr. Democracy, one should
oppose Confucianism; to follow Mr. Science, one should oppose traditional arts and religion.5 In the eyes of many Chinese, Dewey came to
embody Mr. Science and Mr. Democracy.
The following discusses the content of Deweys lectures in relation
to his images in China. Deweys experimental theory of inquiry made
him well qualied as Mr. Science. His promotion of democratic ideals earned him the legitimate title of Mr. Democracy. His concerns for
the education of the masses contributed to his reputation as the common
peoples educator. The three topics on science, democracy, and education
are chosen for many reasons. First, they constitute the major themes of
Deweys lectures; second, they reected the interests and concerns of his
Chinese hosts; and third, they evoked considerable responses and criticisms from his audience. Dewey occasionally may have presented different schools of thought in an overly simplistic manner to make his lectures

Dewey as a Teacher

15

readily accessible to his Chinese audience.6 I summarize Deweys discussion of these themes, my purpose being interpretive rather than critical.

Dewey as Mr. Science

Deweys image as Mr. Science owes to the fact that he advocates an
experimental, scientic method of inquiry in solving social problems and
emphasizes the positive impact of modern science on mental outlook. In
his lectures on Types of Thinking, Dewey discussed Aristotles classic method of systematization and classication, Descartess method of
rationalistic deduction, and Lockes method of empirical sense perception, along with a new trend in modern thinking that he characterized as
experimental. Dewey asserted that thinking in the modern epoch must
reect the progress in experimental science if we are to gain control over
our environment and to replace superstition with intelligence as the governing force in human life. If the scientic method is not rendered serviceable to ordinary human experience, the predicaments in human society
would remain unresolved. Unless the experimental method of inquiry is
readily applied to the social, moral, and political spheres of life, the development of human civilizations would be arrested.
Dewey highlighted the contribution of Darwinism to modern thinking, urging his audience to discard the old view of a static nature, society,
and man and to accept the newer concept of a dynamic universe dramatically illustrated in Darwins account of the evolution of species. According
to Dewey, Darwins theory emancipates human thinking and imagination
from worshipping the xed and the permanenthitherto ideal and perfect. Dewey called for a new pragmatic outlookone that emphasizes
the changing, the multiple, the heterogeneous, and the particular. He presented an account of truth and knowledge grounded in the context of a
complete act of reective inquiry. In his formulation, ideas should not be
judged as antecedently true because they mirror an external reality, but
should be regarded as hypotheses to be tested and veried in action. The
efcacious method and procedures of modern experimental science present themselves as a paradigm of the reliable acquisition and critical evaluation of knowledge. The experimental method leads to a new conception
of knowledge responsive to the dynamic contingencies and complexities
of modern reality. Experimental thinking, Dewey said, is not to produce
useless or ornamental knowledge, but to make knowledge and practice more practical, thus rendering human behavior more intelligent,
more effectively controlled by reliable knowledge.7
Dewey knew that in their attempt to emulate Western technology, the
Chinese tended to espouse a one-sided, mechanistic view of science, paying attention merely to the products, not the process, of science. Therefore,

16

john dewey in china

in his lectures, Dewey stressed science as a method of thinking, knowing, and acting that has a positive impact on morals and values. As he
explained, people in primitive societies were pessimistic about and acquiescent to their surrounding environment because they did not see themselves as having any control over the environment. Superstition and fatalism were the key features of their lives. Progress in science enabled people
to unlock the secrets of nature and to improve the material conditions of
their lives. In this respect, modern science introduced new hope into life
and provided the basis for new courage in living.8 Science also increased
the human ability to judge truth from falsity, thus endowing honesty with
a new meaning. Therefore, the authority of tradition should be replaced
by the authority of science.9 The former is dictated by habit, consolidated by myths, and enjoyed only by a privileged few, whereas the latter
is based on the observation of facts and openness to public scrutiny.
However, Dewey did not deny that advancement in modern technology and science had created some dire consequencesthat is, the production of destructive weaponswhich made the Chinese suspicious of its
value. During his visit, Dewey was often asked about ways China could
avoid the pitfalls of Western materialistic culture. He admitted that love of
money, cruelty in military battles, and contention between capital and labor accompanied material progress in the West. Nonetheless, he believed
that the remedy did not lie in the rejection of science but in a better understanding of what science meansespecially of its moral and intellectual
implications. Dewey hoped that the Chinese would come to appreciate
science as a method of intelligence for coping with problems and difculties in ordinary life, rather than as a collection of objective truths. Knowing that such a view of science was not even widely shared in the West, he
somehow hoped that the Chinese would consider his suggestions, particularly when they planned for education reform. Deweys view of science
is interwoven with his belief in democracy and education. Only when
children in schools learn to cultivate a sound habit of scientic thinking
can schools be truly educational and society be truly democratized.

Dewey as Mr. Democracy

One of the most well-known and inuential lectures Dewey gave in
China was his rst public lecture in Beijing in June 1919, Democratic
Developments in America, which was printed in six newspapers and
periodicals in the same month. In this lecture, Dewey gave a historical
account of the birth of U.S. democracy, preceded by an explication on the
meaning of democracy. Dewey categorized democratic ideals into four
dimensions: political, civil, economic, and social. Political democracy refers to the function of a republican government to secure public opinion.

Dewey as a Teacher

17

Democracy in the civic sense ensures freedom of speech, movement, and

association. Economic democracy is concerned with inequalities in standards of living. Social democracy aims to break down social hierarchies
to allow all to develop to their fullest potential.10 Deweys broad delineation of democracy served two purposes. First, it pointed to the fact that
democracy should affect all spheres of society; second, it encouraged the
Chinese to develop plans for democratization according to their own circumstances and needs.
As Dewey reminded, democratic developments were not identical everywhere. American democracy was developed out of its unique history,
geography, and psychology, as were other democracies. Dewey said that
the British valued democracy because it secured individual freedom from
constraints; the French supported democracy because it ensured equality
for all. Even though the British and the French both practiced democracy,
they each developed their own emphases according to the special circumstances, customs, and challenges that their societies faced. Dewey insisted
that political ideals should reect the actual facts of a given society and
manifest its internal strengths and aspirations. Blindly following others
political ideals would not work, he warned. As far as the American example was concerned, Dewey said that Americans in the early colonial
period did not trust big government; they valued self-reliance and thrived
on self-government. The best government was thought to be one that governs the least. However, Dewey pointed out a growing awareness that the
government had an important role to play in redressing the injustice of a
laissez-faire economy and in answering the calls of workers for a more equitable distribution of wealth and a more equitable share in the management of public affairs. In spite of this concern, local control and grassroots
activism still characterized the democratic spirit in the United States.
Dewey claimed that the government exists as an instrument to serve
the needs of the people, not as an ultimate end or unquestionable good.
Democracy is the only way to ensure that peoples needs and interests
are adequately expressed and addressed in the political process. Political elites, however wise and benevolent, are most likely to remain out
of touch with the people and to abuse their power to serve their own
interests. Dewey said that individual achievement or fulllment should
not be regarded as the highest goal of democracy; a new emphasis should
be placed on the well-being of society as a whole that in turn contributes
to the development of the individual. The American democratic ideal,
Dewey noted, is to reinforce democracy through education and education
through democracy. The spread of public education and the availability
of equal educational opportunities mark a huge step toward the realization of this goal. Dewey assured his audience that democracy is the best
means to prevent violent political disruptions and social revolutions.

18

john dewey in china

In his lectures on Social and Political Philosophy, Dewey explained

the functions of social theory, the role of science in social philosophy, the
origin of social conict, the function of the state, the methods of social
reform, and the criteria for evaluating social institutions and political regimes.11 He began by rejecting all metaphysical explanations concerning
the origins of theories, insisting that theories arise in times of actual social crisis or disintegration. They function to provide solidarity for ways
of thinking and doing and to generate faith particularly in times of
crisis.12 Dewey observed that the prevalence of political slogans in the
Great War was an example of how grand theories could actually make
people sacrice their property and even their lives. Because theories can
cause signicant consequences, people should be careful about what they
choose to believe. Dewey claimed that the present age needed a reconstructed social and political philosophy.
According to Dewey, traditional social and political theories tend to
fall into extremes: either too radical or too conservative. In terms of social
change, the former rejects all old habits, customs, and institutions and aims
to start everything anew, whereas the latter clings to traditions and resists
sweeping changes. Dewey proposed a third alternativea pragmatic, experimental, and particularistic approachto the solving of concrete, specic problems as they arise in particular situations and at particular times.
Traditional philosophies tend to be general, abstract, and absolute; modern philosophy, Dewey insisted, must incorporate the scientic method
and eschew doctrinaire positions that overlook or deny the complexity
of human affairs. According to this new philosophy, progress should be
seen as cumulative, a step forward here, a bit of improvement there, as
piecemeal, not all at once, and as retail business, not wholesale.13 The
goal is to replace sudden and violent revolution with steady and cumulative changes based on the increase in social knowledge and intelligence.
The alternative to revolution as a means to social progress is a system of
habits, customs, conventions, traditions, and institutions exible enough
to permit adjustment to changing environments and conditions.14
Dewey repudiated earlier theories that pit the individual against society or people against the government. Instead, he claimed that social conicts arise from an imbalance of interests between groupsbetween those
whose interests are well acknowledged and served by society at large and
others whose interests are largely neglected. To distinguish his ideas from
Marxs narrow categories of the bourgeois versus the proletariat, Dewey
claried what he meant by groups, namely, those constituted along
economic as well as occupational, ideational, or ethnic lines. Dewey said
that social conicts often occur when the interests of some groups are
gained at the disadvantage, or the suppression, of the interest of other
groups. To resolve conicts, people must devise means for bringing the

Dewey as a Teacher

19

interests of all groups into balance, providing all with the opportunity to
develop so that each can contribute to the common good. Dewey underscored the fundamental interdependence of all social groups by stating
that any real advantage of one group is shared by all groups; and when
one group suffers disadvantage, all are hurt.15
Dewey argued that a pragmatic and experimental approach to
politics, as opposed to either the radical or the conservative, provides
a framework within which leaders of reform movements can adopt an
attitude of inquiry when solving social problems. He said that when
leaders of reform movements can thoughtfully diagnose the ills and deciencies of their society, reform becomes a matter of advocating methods
for correcting ills and satisfying deciencies, and not of revolution which
undertakes to scrap the whole structure of existing institutional arrangements.16 The criterion for judging social habits, customs, and institutions lies in whether they contribute to associated living, characterized
by open communication and exchange of ideas, and by mutual respect,
friendship, and love. Because a democratic society is one that promotes
social communication and interaction among individuals, it depends for
its stability and development not on military force, but on consensus.
A society organized along master-slave relationships contains within itself the seeds of its own destruction because it depends on force for its
existencewhich is sure to result in resistance. Constitutional democracy incorporates within its very structure guarantees that its members
will have opportunity to pursue their own interests. Because members
of such a society recognize that they have a stake in it, social order will
persist relatively unimpaired when a change in government takes place.
In this respect, democracy is the most stable form of government, Dewey
claimed. It is not only capable of securing the unity of a social organism,
but is also the best means to this end.
On economics, Dewey criticized individualistic, laissez-faire economies, which he believed led to the debacle of war. He was sympathetic
to socialism in general and saw the end of the nineteenth century as demarcating the legitimacy of government control in regulating industry.
Dewey said that even among the many socialist theories, they shared the
conviction that economic activities should be conducted to the end of common welfare, not primarily for individual prot.17 However, Dewey denounced Marxism for discarding all moral and ethical considerations and
questioned its applicability to the Chinese. Instead, he suggested guild
socialism as a better way to prevent the conict between labor and capital and to develop industry along democratic lines. In addition, Dewey
thought that socialism need not focus only on economic questions. He
envisioned a different kind of socialism based on equal opportunities to
share intangible things as knowledge, ideas, and experiences. As Dewey

20

john dewey in china

explained, Where material things are concerned, the more people who
share them, the less each will have, but the opposite is true of knowledge. The store of knowledge is increased by the number of people who
come to share in it. Knowledge can be shared and increased at the same
timein fact, it is increased by being shared.18
Dewey was aware of the increasing trend toward individualism in
China and was wary of its concomitant problems. He advised the Chinese not to follow the same path Western nations had takennamely,
going through a stage of self-seeking individualism to the next stage in
which state power had to be used to ensure social equality. Dewey hoped
that China could amalgamate these two steps and achieve equality at
one stroke. China could achieve social equality by using its own social
foundations and philosophical traditions: Political individualism has
not made headway in China, so that the tradition of the states obligation
to protect its people [as propounded by Mencius], which may be likened
to the parents obligation to protect their children, or the emperor to protect his subjects, can readily be modied into the concept of protection of
its citizens by a democratic government.19 Dewey believed that Chinese
culture was endowed with democratic elements that would enable her to
carry out the transition to industrialism more creatively and effectively
than the West had done.

Dewey as the Common Peoples Educator

Deweys rst lecture in China was on democratic education. He stated
that education in the modern era is not the privilege of a select few but a
right to which every citizen is entitled. It should contribute to the betterment of common peoples lives. Indeed, Dewey was rightly honored as
the common peoples educator, championing a new vision of education
for a modern society.
In his lectures on Philosophy of Education, Dewey pointed out the
importance of a philosophy of education in a progressive societyas opposed to a conservative onebecause it serves to guard against blind
subservience to custom and slavish imitation.20 Inherent tendencies to
fear the new and unfamiliar and to shy away from difculty and criticism
characterize conservative societies. Progressive societies, on the contrary,
encourage people to seek the novel, take risks, and assume responsibility.
Modern education should abandon the remnants of elitism, maintain a
balanced curriculum between literary training and practical living, and
cultivate ingenuity and creativity. With the development of new educational aims, educators should abandon traditional methods of teaching,
that is, simply passing knowledge to children without any regard for how
it relates to the practical life outside of school.

Dewey as a Teacher

21

Inuenced by antiquated theories of knowledge, traditional education assumes the child to be passive and views the mind as a receptacle
to be lled. Traditional schools isolate academic subjects and force readymade history, geography, and other subjects into the childs mind. They
employ methods of learning largely conned to memorization, recitation,
and examination. Traditional education thus breeds an aristocracy of
learning and develops an exaggerated regard for antiquity. New education, on the other hand, assumes the child to be active and views learning
as resulting from innate interests and dispositions. Knowledge is seen
as an instrument for guiding conduct, and its acquisition as a means to
solving problems in practical life. The goal of schools is to help students
identify and resolve problems they encounter in actual life.
Dewey criticized the separation of intellectual training with moral
cultivation. The separation would inevitably remain as long as teachers continue to pass on knowledge to students and isolate learning from
doing. Dewey also opposed direct moral instruction, insisting that that
even though the cultivation of moral character is the goal of education,
treating moral education as a separate phase of the curriculum is a pedagogical error. Neither knowledge nor morality can be imparted by one
person to another. Instead, the spirit of service should permeate the entire
curriculum and atmosphere of the school. The school should cultivate
individuality in such ways as will enhance the individuals social sympathy.21 It should help develop persons with character, judgment, and a
sense of social responsibility.
Although Dewey afrmed the role of vocational education in Chinas
industrial development, he insisted that it should not be reduced to a mechanical training for a special trade. It is wrong to treat certain people as
being born for certain jobs and to accept present conditions in business
or industry as our standard.22 Dewey suggested that vocational education should provide training in the scientic method and enable people to
appreciate the interrelationships and interdependence of all social occupations. Because social conditions change and technological progress is rapid,
preparing children in school to perform specic jobs does not make sense.
As for the proper relationship between education and industry, Dewey
said that industry should provide the school with problems and materials
for investigation, and the school should in turn cultivate skills and talents
that would improve industrial development. A good vocational education
must have a technical as well as an intellectual dimension.
Deweys call for a new mental outlook in keeping with the advancement in experimental science, his proposal for a pragmatic theory of truth
and knowledge that unites thought and action, his insistence on the role
of intelligence in human affairs, his emphasis on education as a vehicle
for social change, his practical pedagogical suggestions, and his vision of

22

john dewey in china

democracy as a way of lifeall of these were meant to be general guidelines for social reconstruction in China.

Dewey as a Democratic Teacher

In spite of the various titles and images associated with him, Dewey saw
himself simply as a teacher. But what kind of a teacher was he? How
well did he meet the needs of his Chinese hosts and audience? Did he
live up to the ideal of a democratic teacher? Did he leave any enduring
messages behind?
When viewing Deweys lectures in China, one scholar made the following comment: The references to the Chinese people are few and, for
the most part, not revealing of a deep understanding of the cultural, economic or political life of China. With a few changes, a different example
here or there, the lectures might have been delivered at any university
in the U.S.23 Obviously, the reviewer simply relied on Clopton and Ous
book to make this judgment. However, the lectures they translated comprise only one-sixth of the entire corpus of Deweys lectures and were
delivered only in the rst year of his stay. Although Deweys major lecture series are theory-based, his occasional lectures are context-based
and contain frequent references to contemporary Chinese situations. For
example, when Dewey was visiting the capital city of Hunan, he learned
of a social event during which students allegedly tore down religious
statues to protest superstition and idol worship. Their behavior aroused
strong reactions from the local residents and the educational authorities concerned. Perhaps trying to mediate the dispute, Dewey addressed
this issue in his lecture. While acknowledging the students enthusiasm
for change, he urged them to employ steady and constructive means to
reconstruct society.24 Contrary to the allegation that Dewey was inattentive to local situations, Dewey was highly aware of the events happening around him.
Dewey was always concerned with what China needed and what he
could offer. For instance, when preparing for his lecture series, Dewey
took Hu Shihs suggestion to start with social and political philosophya
topic of great interest to the Chinese. Hu told Dewey that doing so would
be a great opportunity for him to formulate a coherent statement of a
social and political philosophy based in pragmatism. Hu also reminded
the Chinese audience of their rare good fortune in sharing Dr. Deweys
initial formal statement of his social and political philosophy. Hu asked
Dewey to consider publishing these lectures in English and volunteered
to translate Deweys manuscript into Chinese so that both English and
Chinese versions can be published at the same time.25 Although a formal
and systematic approach to politics, irrespective of the particularity of

Dewey as a Teacher

23

context, may seem inconsistent with pragmatism, Dewey agreed to start

his lecture series on social and political philosophywith his own plan,
as he said to a friend, to provide an outline of the whole eld.26
Deweys choice to introduce William James, Henri Bergson, and
Bertrand Russell for his lecture series on Three Contemporary Philosophers also reects his willingness to accommodate the interests of his
hosts and audience. Not familiar with the background of Deweys visit in
China, one scholar actually nds Deweys selection of the three contemporary philosophers rather amusing:
James had been dead for nine years, and Dewey justied his inclusion by the comment that his works were having their greatest
impact at the moment. Bergson was a logical choice; he was alive
and famous. . . . One might add that Dewey was not partial to metaphysicians, either. But I doubt that his choice were a matter of personal taste, because that might have led him to omit Russell, too, despite Russells meteoric career and extraordinary brilliance. Perhaps
Dewey was trying to show his Oriental audience what he believed
and hoped about man and society and was talking about those fellow philosophers who shared the same beliefs and hopes.27

Even though Deweys selection may seem strange to scholars today, it

made perfect sense to the Chineseespecially when we consider the special circumstances of the time and the particular ideological interests of
different groupsthe liberal, the traditionalist, and the socialist.
The liberal camp Hu Shih led favored William James because they
could use his theory of truth to legitimize their attack on traditional Chinese culture. The traditionalists, on the other hand, were drawn to the
philosophy of Henri Bergson because they took his creative theory of
evolution as afrming the spiritual dimension of human life. His theory
was appealing to those who, after the Great War, became disillusioned
with the scientic and materialistic culture of the West and wanted to
call for a return to their own spiritual traditions.28 Deweys introduction
of Bergson consolidated his reputation among traditionalist supporters.
In the well-known controversy over Eastern and Western civilizations,
Bergsons mystic style and his emphasis on intuition over intellect served
as a powerful source of inspiration and authority for the traditionalists. In
fact, Bergson was invited to lecture in China after Dewey and Russell, but
the visit did not materialize. Although James and Bergson were favored
respectively by the liberals and the traditionalists, Bertrand Russell was
a hero to the radicals. His social and political thoughtas represented in
major works such as Principles of Social Reconstruction (1916), Political Ideals (1917), Roads to Freedom: Socialism, Anarchism, and Syndicalism (1918),

24

john dewey in china

The Theory and Practice of Bolshevism (1920)had an immense appeal to

the Chinese who supported socialism and opposed capitalism and imperialism. Because Russell was invited to lecture in China in the fall of 1920,
Deweys introduction of him may have been intended to pave the way
for his reception. In hindsight, we can see that Deweys selection of these
three philosophersone American, one French, and one Britishto meet
the respective ideological interests of the liberal, the traditionalist, and
the socialist in May Fourth China, was quite appropriate.
Whenever he could, Dewey would tailor his occasional talks to meet
the interests and the needs of his audiences. For instance, when Dewey
was invited to speak at Beijing University on the twenty-second anniversary of its founding, he spoke about the responsibility of a university in
generating well-informed and enlightened public opinion in a democracy. When he attended the inauguration of a student government at
Beijing Teachers College, he lectured on student self-government and
assured the students that open discussion of events leads to better decisions than the unchallenged reasoning of a few wise men. When invited
to speak at a College of Law and Administration, Dewey chose to talk
about the foundation of democratic politics. He reminded the students
that political rights need to be earned and that political democracy is a
continuous process, not fully realized even in the West. When talking to
teachers at normal schools, Dewey addressed pedagogical issues, such as
the importance of spontaneity in learning, and he encouraged teachers
to assume leadership in reforming society. When visiting a high school,
Dewey lectured on civic education and urged the students to cooperate
with one another to pursue common goals. Most interesting, Dewey even
managed to give a talk on Chinese ne arts. In this lecture addressed to
students interested in ne arts, Dewey not only acknowledged the intrinsic value of the arts, but he also encouraged the students to explore
the relevance of classic arts to contemporary life to enhance the quality
of living for all.29
Because Dewey lectured frequently during his two-year stay, repetition was inevitable. He expressed concern about this as he pondered
whether to stay in China for a second year. I have done all the general
lecturing I can, said all that can be said of a general sort I mean, and as
they have been published all over Chinaremember the four hundred
million, I [cant] say the same thing over again next year very well.30
Dewey nally agreed to stay on the condition that his general lecturing
load would be reduced and his major responsibility would be to teach
regular courses at the host universities. However, he frequently received
lecture invitations even when he was about to depart the country. In his
last public lecture in Beijing, Dewey began by saying that because he had
given so many lectures, he actually had nothing much to add. However,

Dewey as a Teacher

25

he felt reluctant to decline the invitation and thus agreed to give a farewell
speech.31 Throughout the course of his visit, Dewey hardly complained
about the arrangements made for him except that when asked to give a
talk on religion, he declined. He told his close friend about this event:
I was invited to speak on religion and declined and the secy [sic] of
the student society which invited me came around to see me and naively said they wanted to get the question settled while Russell and I
were in the country. Of course it [isnt] all as bad as this, but in a way
[its] typical. Russell gave out an interview in which he remarked that
in the Western world no one had any faith any longer in the wise
men but China was still in the stage where it believed that a wise
man could come along and settle its difculties and questions.32

Interestingly, Dewey added, Russell got on to the weak points of the

Chinese in much shorter time than I did.33
Even though Dewey had great sympathy for the struggles of the Chinese and admired many unique qualities of Chinese culture, he was not
uncritical of their weaknessestheir passivity and reliance on authority.
Therefore, in his lectures, he often stressed the importance of spontaneity, creativity, and initiative, reminding his audience that they needed to
reconcile partisan disputes and undertake practical tasks that demands
large-scale organization and cooperation. Dewey also said that their reliance on authority prevented them from taking charge and engaging in
social experimentation. Knowing that the Chinese had not learned to organize themselves to operate on a national level, Dewey suggested that
schools should cultivate a sense of public spirit extending beyond the
students immediate environments. As Dewey approached the end of his
sojourn in China, he felt compelled to urge the Chinese to overcome their
passivity and sense of helplessness.
In May 1921, Dewey gave a speech titled, Self-Activity and Self-Government, stating, Classical education encourages passivity; it might be
all right for puppets, but not appropriate for children capable of spontaneity and initiative; it served very well for the time when it evolved, but
it cannot meet todays needs. He maintained, the only way that the
problems which now beset China will ever be solved is by the spontaneous efforts of the Chinese people themselves.34 In July 1921, immediately
before Deweys departure, he gave a talk on The Importance of Dynamic
Morality. He said, the static and passive morality which is characteristic of the Chinese people may produce strong and enduring character, but
it stresses obedience and lial piety; dynamic morality, on the other hand,
stresses creativity, venturesomeness and willingness to assume responsibility. Dewey argued that static and passive morality was appropriate

26

john dewey in china

for an authoritarian state; but in a democratic state where maintenance

of social equilibrium and progress of social reconstruction are functions
of individual responsibility, dynamic morality must be cultivated.35
Chinas survival, Dewey insisted, hinged on the cultivation of dynamic
morality through schooling.
An additional point about Deweys lecture schedules in China is
worth noting. Deweys major lectures series were delivered on Friday
evenings, Saturday afternoons, and Sunday mornings, perhaps to accommodate the schedule of his translator. Deweys schedule of traveling was
also extensive. He traveled to eleven provinces in China, some of which
he even visited twice. In mid-April 1921, three months before he was to
leave the country, he was invited to lecture in Fujian, a province in southern China. However, during his trip, he learned that some students in
Beijing were using his name to protest against taking any examinations.
He decided to return to Beijing hastily to clear up the misunderstanding. These details might seem minor, but when we consider the traveling
conditions of the time, along with the fact that such an intensive schedule was demanding of a sixty-year-old man, the tribute to Dewey as a
modern Confucius was, in fact, well deserved. We may further appreciate Deweys benevolence toward the Chinese if we compare him with
Chinas other guest at the time, Bertrand Russell.
Unlike Dewey who was so accommodating to the expectations of his
Chinese hosts and so attentive to the needs of his audience, Bertrand Russell showed impatience with the arrangements made for him on his arrival. He refused to meet the expectations of all to hear him lecture on his
book Principles of Social Reconstructionsomething to which the entire intellectual circle had been looking forward when they learned that he had
agreed to visit China. Much to their disappointment, Russell decided to
begin his lectures with technical philosophy, starting with The Problems
of Philosophy, The Analysis of Mind, The Analysis of Matter, and
then Mathematical Logic. Yet Russell complained to his friend in a letter that the Chinese were not interested in pure philosophy, and all they
wanted were concrete suggestions on how to reform their society.36 Even
when Russell nally agreed to lecture on social theories, he decided to
change the topic from Principles of Social Reconstructionlong anticipated by the Chineseto The Science of Social Structure. He stressed
that he would be presenting a scientic account of the relationship between social change and social structure. As one Chinese scholar pointed
out, Russell chose to lecture on The Science of Social Structure probably
to avoid getting into too much controversy.37
In contrast to Dewey who traveled extensively, Russell stayed primarily in Beijing. Unlike Dewey who extended his stay in China from a
few months to two years, Russell shortened his visit from one full year to

Dewey as a Teacher

27

nine months. In fact, four months into his stay, Russell began to feel bored
because everything seemed to have become a routine to him. He also felt
that discussing philosophy with Chinese students was pointless because
their understanding was very limited. He thought that the students dont
work hard and have not much brains, although they were friendly and
enthusiastic.38 He thought that most of the students were stupid and
timid and that they needed board-school teachers, not eminent professors.39 However, the students seemed to think of Russell as an amiable
old fogy.40 They were treating him and Dora Black like an emperor and
an empress and were honoring their love out of wedlock by promoting
what was called Russell Marriage.41 Nonetheless, Russell still thought
that Beijing was as isolating as a dead pond, and that if one stayed too
long in it, ones mind would be retarded.42 Later, in March 1921, he caught
pneumonia, became seriously ill for three months, and had to cancel all
lecture plans. After he fully recovered in July, Russell decided that the
time had come to depart the country. After giving a farewell speech on
Chinas Road to Freedom, Russell and his mistress left Beijing on July
11, 1921, reportedly on the same day as Dewey and his wife.
Russells message to the Chinese in his farewell address conicts
with his initial remarks about Bolshevism. In his rst lecture on The Bolsheviks and World Politics, Russell told the Chinese that he did not
approve of the Bolsheviks because their authoritarian regime resorted
to violence as a means to consensus.43 He said that even though communism was a good theory, it should not be implemented hastily or forcefully. The views Russell expressed in this lecture were consistent with
his book The Theory and Practice of Bolshevism, which he wrote after visiting Soviet Russia and before traveling to China. Russells criticism of
Bolshevism aroused strong reactions from those Chinese who were enthusiastic about the Bolshevik regime and were gradually converting to
communism. As Dewey also revealed in his letter, [Russells] criticisms
of Bolshevism rather weakened the attachment of students.44 Chen
Duxiu was an example. Chen, who proclaimed to be following Mr. Science and Mr. Democracy in early 1919, had become the secretary of
the Chinese Communist Party secretly founded in May 1920. On hearing Russells negative comments about Bolshevism, Chen wrote a letter
to Russell, asking him to clarify his views about Bolshevism to avoid
the disappointment of the Chinese people in you.45 Whether Russell
received Chens letter is not known.
However, in his second speech, Bolshevik Thought, given one
month later, Russell was no longer critical of Bolshevism. He portrayed it
in a positive light by saying that Bolshevism was concerned with enforcing justice in gender, international, economic, and social relations. Russell
also reiterated his faith in communism, claiming that even though the

28

john dewey in china

Russians had encountered some problems, the world should support

them, and every civilized nation in the world should try to put this
wonderful theory into practice.46 In light of the controversies caused by
his previous remarks, Russell seemed careful not to agitate the radicals
who supported Bolshevismonly to nd himself attacked in turn by
those who favored anarchism, syndicalism, or guild socialism. In his farewell address, Chinas Road to Freedom, Russell addressed the topic of
Bolshevism againafter many months of lectures largely on pure philosophy. In this speech, he claimed that although Bolshevism was not
applicable to Europe, the case in China was different. He suggested that
the Chinese adopt state socialism and follow the example of the Russian
Bolsheviks in developing industry and popularizing education.47
Russells three lectures on Bolshevism often contradicted themselves.
This may have resulted from inadequate translation as well as the inconsistencies in Russells own thoughts. We can note the problem of translation from a letter Dewey wrote in which he mentioned overhearing
Russells speech on The Bolsheviks and World Politics:
[Russell] lectured this p m right after I did, on Bolshevism. I was rushed
right out of the hall, to go and get rested. I suppose from politeness
but it almost looked as if they [didnt] want me to hear him. I judge
they are about the same as his articles. The only thing I heard him say
was that one reason he was opposed to Bolshevism was that the rest of
the world [wouldnt] accept it voluntarily, they were bound to impose
it, and that would mean continued ghting and he considered the situation so precarious that civilization might go under in a prolonged
war. The other thing was that they were doing a lot for the children.48

Two of Russells comments on Bolshevism, which Dewey claimed to

overhear, did not appear in the Chinese text. The text contained only the
statement that Russell did not approve of Bolshevism, but the reasons for
his disapproval, as Dewey described, were not mentioned.
The inconsistencies in Russells lectures, regardless of whether they
were caused by his own shifting thoughts or by problematic translation,
generated heated debates within the socialist camp. Confused as well
as frustrated, fervent socialists were disputing among themselves about
which school of socialism Russell truly endorsed: anarcho-syndicalism,
guild socialism, state socialism, or Bolshevism. Contenders on different
sides of the debate used evidence from different speeches, or even different parts of the same speech, to claim that Russell agreed with them.
In fact, for the most part, Russell was himself divided in his own attitudes toward Bolshevism. As he described in a letter, My disapproval
of Bolshevism, in so far as I do disapprove, is on the ground that I do not

Dewey as a Teacher

29

think it can achieve the ends at which it aims. I regard the Bolsheviks as
knights of the impossible, and the whole development of Russia during the last 3 years conrms me in this view. It is as a practical man, not
as an idealist, that I object to them.49 When Russell spoke negatively
about Bolshevism, he was being practical; when he spoke positively,
he was being idealistic.
Unlike Russell, Dewey did not sever theory from practice. He also
would not support any theory not rmly grounded in practice. Dewey
was particularly right about Russell being constitutionally in oppositionhe could write a wonderful critique on either heaven or hell after
a short stay in either.50 Most signicantly, excluding the possibility of
problematic translation, what Russell suggested to the Chinese in the his
farewell speech on Chinas Road to Freedom contradicted what he said
to the English reading public in his The Problem of China (1922), in which
he claimed that Bolshevism, as it has developed in Russia, is quite peculiarly inapplicable to China.51 Unlike Russell who seemed self-contradictory and opportunistic, however eloquent and charismatic, Dewey
remained consistent and truthful in his presentation of the Chinese to the
West and of the West to the Chinese.
As Remer pointed out insightfully in 1920, what Dewey was trying
to do in China was to get the thoughtless and the conservative to look
upon the experimental method with more hope and less fear and get the
enthusiastic critic to develop within himself some discipline and some
test to distinguish between what is desirable and what is not. Remer
further wrote, [Deweys] way is democratic because it depends upon the
development of standards within the citizen and not upon the imposition
of standards from without upon the subject. His way is the liberal and
the tolerant way. The autocrat and the doctrinaire cannot use it. Dewey
can do no more than to make it clear and to say it again and again as
he goes about in this country.52 Deweys democratic stance toward the
Chinese will be more evident when we later discuss his role as a learner
in chapter four.
Those who were familiar with Dewey appreciated his contribution
to Chinese education as well as his sincerity and kindness. At the farewell banquet held for Dewey, one female professor from a teachers college thanked Dewey for helping to change traditional Chinese attitudes
toward education. People used to respect teachers but not the teaching
profession itself because they thought that anybody could be a teacher.
Deweys advocacy for teaching as a profession was a corrective to the
traditional laissez-faire attitude toward teaching because he encouraged
teachers to examine the underlying principles of their teaching so that
they could avoid blind subservience to tradition or slavish imitation of
foreign ideas. Moreover, she said:

30

john dewey in china

Dewey was not only teaching us; he was teaching Europeans and
Americans about us. There have been politicians and diplomats in
the country before. However, their reports about us were usually distorted by their own particular interests and agenda. Many came to
visit for a few days and returned with a book of one or two thousand
pages. Dewey was different. He reported our situations truthfully to
the reading public in America. He would occasionally point out our
problems and weaknesses, but he had great love for us.53

Dewey returned the kindness of his Chinese hosts by acknowledging that

he had a wonderful time and learned very much from his visit. He stressed
his admiration for the young people in Chinatheir enthusiasm for new
learning and their concern with the well-being of society at largebut he
kindly reminded the Chinese that the problems of China could be solved
only by actually trying to solve them. It was pointless, Dewey noted, to
wait until one gures out whether a good government should precede
good education or vice versa. In Deweys opinion, the young intelligentsia
were surfeited with theories, including his own.54 As a teacher, Dewey
had said all he had to say and the rest lay with the Chinese themselves to
solve their own problems. Indeed, China could not have asked for a more
benevolent and democratic teacher than John Dewey.

Whose Teaching? Or Hus Teaching?

So far I have presented the content of Deweys teaching as it appeared in
the Chinese texts of his lectures without considering semantic or aesthetic
distortions in the process of translation. Now I turn to whether these
texts were unequivocal representations of what Dewey actually said and
whether Hu Shihs cultural-intellectualistic approach to the reform of
Chinese society was in keeping with Deweys more pragmatic and practical stance.55 The answers should urge us to reconsider whether Dewey
was responsible for the failure of Hus cultural reformism.
First of all, we should note that the existing English translation of
Deweys lectures is several times removed from the original. As the translators themselves noted, one needs to consider the possibility of signicant alterations in meaning in such a process.56 Those who read the English translation may feel that the content is largely consistent with Deweys
thoughts. As one scholar remarks, translations into English of what he
[Dewey] reported to have said . . . sounded very like him and constitute
a reliable primer of his philosophy.57 However, the English translation
contains only Deweys lectures on Social and Political Philosophy and
Philosophy of Education. If we study Deweys other lectures recorded
in Chinese, we would be more likely to notice the problem of translation.

Dewey as a Teacher

31

If one is both conversant with Deweys style and familiar with Hus writings, one can discern passages in which Hus translations seem highly
problematicmostly in style and tone and occasionally in content. Hus
eloquent, pompous, and proselytizing style marked a dramatic difference
from Deweys usually unassuming and unimposing style. However, I do
not mean to suggest that Hu Shih intended to distort Deweys lectures,
nor do I mean to imply that the records of Deweys lectures in China were
largely fabricated and unreliable. Nonetheless, we may reasonably believe that Hu may have occasionally altered the meanings of what Dewey
said to highlight a particular point or to promote a certain agenda. Even
though these occasional anomalies may seem minor, they eventually affected the way Chinese intellectuals responded to Dewey.
Let me start with a blatant example. In a highly anticipated and publicized lecture, Democratic Developments in America, Dewey was reported to have said the following about U.S. society:
Even though there has been an increasing gap between the rich and
the poor, there is still equality between them. Why is this so? Because
the poor still have the opportunity to get ahead through hard work;
they can still get rich if they so aspire. Those who are rich do not look
down on the poor. This is how social equality is maintained. There
is not only no social hierarchy in American society; there is no gender hierarchy, either. The issue of gender hierarchy in China is very
serious, whereas in the United States men and women are equal and
there is no distinction between them at all.58

Deweywho was active in promoting equal education for women and

womens suffrage, and who once marched in a suffrage parade unknowing carrying a banner thrust into its hands which read Men can vote!
Why cant I?probably would not have claimed that the United States
was without gender hierarchy.59 Additionally, Deweywho had been
involved with Jane Addams at Hull House in Chicago to campaign for
social and labor reformsprobably would not have professed that his
own country had no social inequality. When Dewey wrote home on June
5, 1919, he told his children, in some ways there is more democracy than
we have; leaving out the women, there is complete social equality.60
We do not know what Dewey said that led Hu to this interpretation.
We cannot be sure whether this might have been a problem of inadequate
recording rather than problematic translation. We obviously cannot rule
out the possibility that Dewey might have described U.S. society in a positive light to impress his Chinese audience. However, the inconsistency I
have shown is so glaring and so unlike Dewey that we need to consider
multiple scenarios. I think we should give more weight to the fact that

32

john dewey in china

Hu had always been a steadfast defender and advocate of American values.61 Therefore, his own idealized image of the United States may have
affected his interpretation. Perhaps the details about U.S. society were not
important to the Chinese as long as they were informed about the larger
contours of its democratic development. Nevertheless, examples such as
this often leave the impression that Dewey did not seem to be concerned
with labor questions. It gave left-wing radicals sufcient grounds to denounce Dewey as a defender of capitalists and the bourgeoisie.62
Dewey was far from unconcerned with the conditions of the poor.
Two weeks after his arrival, he wrote home, noting the problem of the
extreme poverty of China, of which he was unaware before coming to
the country.63 In his lectures on Social and Political Philosophy, Dewey
emphasized the importance of building a solid economic infrastructure
on which social life was to be built. Later in his stay, Dewey often reminded the Chinese to develop industry and improve the material conditions of their lives. However, as Chow points out, Deweys discussion of
Chinas economic problems did not attract enough attention from his
Chinese students and friends and other Chinese liberals who were preoccupied with educational reform, academic research and the re-evaluation of national classics.64
Another example shows how Hu Shih may have borrowed Deweys
authority to promote his own belief that China should assimilate itself
fully with Western civilization, which he later spelled out as total Westernization. According to the Chinese text, Dewey said, China should no
longer rely on the Great Wall to resist Western culture and China should
open its door to absorb all the greatness of Western civilization to redress the wrongs that had been done to China since Western intrusion.65
Implied in this statement is Hus fundamental belief in the superiority of
Western civilization. As Chinese historian Lin Yu-sheng points out, Hu
Shih thought that the traditional Chinese mind was so diseased that it
could not cure itself through its own resources. Its salvation was possible
only after the advent of Western civilization on the Chinese scene.66 Hus
rejection of traditional Chinese culture conicts with Deweys afrmation
of its internal strengths. Dewey would not have agreed with Hus totalistic antitraditionalism.67 Dewey once wrote, China has evolved, not borrowed, her civilization, and Chinas problem was not one of successful
borrowing of foreign ideasas in the case of Japanbut one of transformation, of making over from within. Dewey hoped that the Chinese
would not learn Western ideas for the sake of getting models to pattern
herself after, but to get ideas, intellectual capital, with which to renovate
her own institutions (MW 11: 207).
This example also helps us understand why Hu Shihs contemporary
adversary, Mei Guangdi, accused him of abducting Dewey, of treating

Dewey as a Teacher

33

him like a puppet, and of using Dewey to increase his own fame
and to destroy traditional Chinese culture entirely.68 Interestingly, as
a student of Irving Babbitt at Harvard University, Mei was devoted to
promoting Babbitts New Humanism as a counterforce against Hu Shihs
pragmatism and his New Culture movement. Babbitts call for a return
to Greek and Roman classics reinforced Meis belief in the preservation
of traditional Chinese literature. However, Meis writings were written in
classical language and were not widely read.69 Despite their differences,
one can see that Hu and Mei both resorted to foreign authority to validate their own agendas. The dispute between Hu and Mei marked one
instance among many in the larger battle between cultural radicals and
conservatives. Another major controversy in this period was one between
political radicals and conservatives. In this case, Hus cultural radicalism
contrasted with his political conservatism. We shall see how Hu used
Deweys lectures to advocate an intellectualistic reform approach as a
more desirable alternative to radical social change.
As you may recall from my previous discussion of Deweys lectures,
he said that social and political philosophies tend to fall into extremes,
either too radical or conservative. According to the Chinese text, Dewey
stated, both committed the same mistake of seeking a fundamental resolution. Appearing in quotation marks in the text, the term fundamental resolution has the connotation of a sweeping and all-encompassing
solution.70 We do not know what Dewey actually said, but he may have
held that both radicals and conservatives cling to a permanent and absolute solution to social problems without considering the need for continuous social experimentation. However, in Hu Shihs rendering, Dewey
seemed to be criticizing only the radicals for attempting to resolve social
problems by eradicating existing systems. Hu clearly seems to deliberately choose the term to denounce Marxist ideas promulgated by his opponent Li Dazhao.
At the time, Hu Shih was involved in a heated debate with Lisoon
to become one of the founders of the Chinese Communist Party in 1920
over whether an all-encompassing solution to Chinas problems was possible and desirable. From July to September 1919, a series of polemical
essays were exchanged between these two men that aroused tremendous
attention in intellectual circles. It was later regarded as demarcating the
rst round of debates between pragmatism and Marxism. In his initial
essay, More Study of Problems and Less Talk of Isms, Hu deplored the
radicals uncritical interest in various kinds of socialist theories. Claiming that theories on paper were dangerous, Hu urged his fellow intellectuals to study concrete, specic problems, such as how to reform the
family system, to liberate women, and to unite political factions. Hu vilied the radicals insistence on a fundamental resolution by calling it

34

john dewey in china

a sign of intellectual laziness, a self-deceiving dream, an ironclad

proof of the bankruptcy of Chinese thought, and a death-sentence to
Chinese social reform.71
In his reply, Li Dazhao agreed that studying concrete, specic problems was important, but he chided Hu for being impractical. Hus approach could not help promote a common consensus or generate a collective vision, which alone could move people to action. Despite your
vehement study of social problems, Li said, these problems can never
be solved because the majority of people in society do not feel related.72
Li maintained that large-scale transformation of existing social and political structures was a prerequisite to the solving of all other problems
that Hu indicated. The heart of their disagreement lies in whether China
needed a radical revolution or gradual reform to resolve the political failure of the 1911 revolution.73 Li believed in the Bolshevik regime in Russia,
whereas Hu devoted himself to literary revolution, that is, replacing
the classical written language with the vernacular language as the new
mode of public discourse and a new style of literature.
Even though Hu advocated less talk of isms, he was also engaged
in importing Western isms into the intellectual marketplace of China.
In his own treatment of pragmatism, Hu drew heavily from William
James, highlighting pragmatism as a theory of truth. His purpose was
obviousto attack traditional norms and beliefs. Even though Hu accurately understood and promoted Deweys pragmatism as a method of social inquiry, Hu seemed to have missed the action component in Deweys
theory. Hu may have learned from Dewey that the most sacred responsibility of a mans life is to endeavor to think well, as he once reected.74
However, he overlooked Deweys call to unite thought and action and to
integrate means and ends.
Owing to his personal temperament that better suited him to be a
scholar rather than a social activist, Hu Shih did not study those concrete,
practical problems he himself so eloquently identied. In the 1920s, Hu
and some of his followers in the New Culture movement turned not to
the study of practical social problems, but to esoteric matters, such as archeological investigations, the study of ancient Chinese philosophy and
history, and the textual criticisms of traditional literature.75 In fact, one
may doubt whether Hu Shih was fully committed to leading reform in
China. Both Dewey and his wife revealed in their letters that Hu intended
to return to the United States and obtain a teaching position at Columbia University. Alice was critical: [Hu] is afraid if he stays here these
political agitations will so prevent his doing concentrated work that he
will get out of the habit. What do you think of that for intellectual logic
in patriotism, in building up the foundations for a national intellectual
life?76 Dewey, on the other hand, was more sympathetic: I [dont] see

Dewey as a Teacher

35

how China can spare him, but it is rather pathetic to see how many of the
old students here long for life in the US.77
However, the defeat of Hus cultural reformism was often thought to
be a result of Deweys inuence or a corollary of Deweys pragmatism.
Nancy Sizer speculates that Deweys presencethe presence of the master himself as she puts itmight have prevented his students from the
exible, innovative treatment of the philosophy which would have made
possible its adaptation to Chinese culture.78 Maurice Meisner argues that
applied to China, Deweys program was neither conservative nor radical
but largely irrelevant. It was the product of a society that could afford
conservatism, a society that could solve particular social problems because
there already existed a viable social structure and a general consensus on
the direction of social progress. Contrary to the steadiness of U.S. society,
China was confronted with large-scale crises and massive problems on all
levels, social, cultural, and politicalthat, taken together, negated the
possibility of the general social consensus Deweys program required.79
Following Meinsers line of argument, Barry Keenan claims that Deweys
ideas about science, democracy, and education fostered an elitism in
his disciples. Lamenting their paper-tiger status as intellectuals, Keenan
writes that they were displaced persons in a society not yet democratic,
and responding supercially to their efforts to teach democracy by practicing democracy.80 Keenan concludes that Deweys pragmatism offered
no strategy his followers could use to affect political power.81
Meisner and Keenan both assume that in the early 1920s Hu was
conducting a Dewey experiment in Chinainspired by Dewey and
thus automatically endorsed by him. They hold Dewey accountable for
the ideas Hu promoted and fail to consider how Dewey might have diverged from Hu or even disagreed with him. Being personally familiar
with Dewey, claiming to be following Deweys ideas, and sounding very
often like Deweyall of these made Hu Shih a legitimate representative
of Dewey.82 However, in Hus project for the Deweyanization of China
as Lin Yu-sheng calls, the focus of pragmatism on continuous social inquiry and experimentation was turned into a justication for Hus own
cultural-intellectualism.83 Hu took pragmatism to be a general methodology without realizing that he was actually sanctifying it as a universal
doctrine. As Sor-hoon Tan points out, Hu was not sensitive enough to
treat his reformism as a hypothesis.84 As Grieder says, All his hopes
were founded in his faith in the universal applicability of reason, and
equally important, in the common aspirations of reasonable men. To admit the uniqueness of Chinese conditions would be to deny to China the
expectation of redemption.85 These are Hus own positions that Dewey
did not shareespecially the dogmatic insistence on the separation of
education and culture from politics.

36

john dewey in china

As Lin contends, Hus cultural-intellectualistic approach is a distinctively Chinese mode of thinking, premised on the belief that a change
of basic ideas qua ideas was the most fundamental change, the source of
other changes. It assumes that changes in beliefs and valuesnamely,
intellectual and cultural changeprecedes and precipitates other political, social, and economic changes. As Lin elaborates:
The cultural-intellectualistic approach was inuenced by a deep-seated
traditional Chinese cultural predisposition, in the form of a monistic
and intellectualistic mode of thinking. It was not directly inuenced
by any Western sources; nor was it decisively shaped by sociopolitical
conditions, which were auxiliary factors. . . . [T]his traditional mode of
thinking . . . provided the source for the cultural-intellectualistic approach of the rst two generations of the Chinese intelligentsia without
their necessarily being conscious that their views were so derived.86

The political failure of the 1911 revolution conrmed Hus deep-seated

belief that it was pointless to fashion political changes without rst establishing a solid cultural foundation for the transformation of Chinese
society.87 In fact, Chen Duxiu and many other intellectuals at the time
had once shared Hus sentiment. Earlier in 1915, Chen pleaded with his
fellow intellectuals to withdraw from political life and devote themselves
to educational activities and moral reform.88 However, Chen later realized the impracticality of this approach, whereas Hu remained steadfast
in his original approach.
In addition, we should bear in mind that Dewey did not publish
his social and political philosophy lectures in English as Hu suggested.
Dewey might not have been satised with them because they were too
sketchy and general. They represented Deweys ideas in the making
rather than a nished product. What is of immediate relevance to our
discussion here is that we should not regard these lectures as fully representing Deweys political thought or his suggestions to the Chinese.
In fact, Dewey may have reconsidered some ideas he presented in the
lectures, whereas Hu seemed to hold fast to them as nal answers. One
signicant example is the notion of progress as a retail, not wholesale,
businessan idea that Hu used to advocate his own cultural reformism. Hu took this concept to heart and frequently referred to it in his
own writings. In 1919 Hu stressed that the progress of human civilization is accomplished by inches and drops.89 In 1962 Hu recounted the
story of Deweys visit in China for the English reading public to defend
Deweyand himselfagainst the large-scale purging of their ideas by
the Communist government in the 1950s. Hu quoted Deweys ve-stage
method of thinking and claimed: The progress of man and of society

Dewey as a Teacher

37

depends upon the patient and successful solution of real and concrete
problems by means of active use of the intelligence of man. Progress,
Dewey said, is piecemeal. It is always a retail job, never wholesale.90
Forty years later, Hu was still reiterating the point Dewey made in his
1916 essay, Progress?
In my view, we need to examine the context in which Dewey made
the argument. At that time, Dewey was pondering the prospect of human
progress in light of World War I. He was critical of the doctrine of evolution
being wrongly used to support the notion of an automatic and wholesale
progress in human affairs. Such rendering of evolutionism leaves human
beings with little role to play in the grand scheme of the cosmos other
than to enjoy the product of divine providence. Dewey even said that a
great and devastating war is not too great a price to pay for an awakening
from such an infantile and selsh dream. As he insisted, Progress is not
automatic; it depends upon human intent and aim and upon acceptance
of responsibility for its production. It is not a wholesale matter, but a retail
job, to be contracted for and executed in sections. The essay argues that
humans need to create their own history, decide their own destiny, and
take full responsibility accordingly. Dewey ended by saying, I doubt if
the whole history of mankind shows any more vicious and demoralizing
ethic than the recent widespread belief that each of us, as individuals and
as classes, might safely and complacently devote ourselves to increasing
our own possessions, material, intellectual, and artistic, because progress
was inevitable anyhow. In this essay, Dewey attempted to challenge the
prevailing conception of material progress as a guarantee of social progress. He argued that material prosperity was, at most, an opportunity for
progress, whose outcome depends on deliberate human foresight and
socially constructive work (MW 10: 238).
The context of Deweys essay in which he rendered the notion of
progress as a retail job was quite different from the context in which
Hu advocated his cultural reformism. Believing that he was being truthful to Deweys ideas, Hu focused his piecemeal approach exclusively on
attitudinal change. Even though Dewey also emphasized the importance
of changing our attitudes and habits of mind to meet new challenges and
demands, he knew clearly that the change in habits of mind depended on
concrete changes in economic conditions and social structures. Toward
the end of Hus 1962 essay, he said, I have brought upon my head and
the head of my beloved teacher and friend, John Dewey, years of violent
attack and millions of words of abuse and condemnation.91 Little did
Hu Shih know that he also would bring on Dewey the criticisms of later
scholars, such as Meisner and Keenan, for prescribing and insisting on
a gradualist reform approach for a society faced with the crises of social
disintegration from within and imperialistic aggression from without.

38

john dewey in china

In my attempt to distinguish Dewey from Hu Shih, I may have, at

times, been too critical in my evaluation of Hu and his reform without acknowledging the contribution of his literary revolution, which had won
him the recognition as one of the inuential gures in modern Chinese
history. Sor-hoon Tans sympathetic assessment of Hu is worth noting. As
she says, Hu was promoting Deweys philosophy while he was still developing it. Tan also argues that Hus pragmatist work in China, his promotion of vernacular literature, was an important contribution because it
made possible the means of communication and publicity required for
democracy.92 Tans comments were true. Even though all pragmatists
would agree that pragmatism in the United States must run a different
course than pragmatism in China, much remains open to argumentation
and interpretation whether Hus appropriation of Dewey was in keeping with pragmatism or was a misreading of pragmatism.93 Despite this
unresolved controversy awaiting more thorough and extensive research,
we can be certain that the cultural-intellectualistic reform approach Hu
adopted was his own, not Deweys.
At the same time, we should also note that Deweys political activism
often runs a sharp contrast to Hus conservatism. Tan was partially right
when she said that Dewey and Hu Shih may have underestimated the
educative function of May Fourth political activism, which was arguably
an exercise in democratic politics itself, even though it was unsuccessful
in transforming China into a democratic state.94 In fact, as demonstrated
in the next chapter, Dewey may have overestimated its educative function whereas Hu Shih underestimated it. Dewey tended to be willing to
consider radical changes if circumstances so required. A case in point was
his support for the U.S. participation in World War I, although it remains
problematic for pragmatists.95 In his later years, Dewey was cautious
about treating revolutions or wars as the only and major method of creating drastic change. Nevertheless, Dewey was not averse to radical change
per se, but to radical change through the means of violence.
Dewey remained a radical activist throughout his liferadical in the
sense that he was always willing to take action and reconsider alternatives in light of changed consequences and circumstances. He was always willing, in his own words, to allow a leeway of experimentation
beyond the limits of established and sanctioned custom (MW 12: 199).
His radicalism was grounded in his faith in human intelligence to continually generate better answers to new problems. In fact, if pragmatism
is to remain relevant in changing times and changing contexts, especially
in todays global world with interconnected problems, pragmatism must
subject its piecemeal reformism to critical scrutiny.
In one sense, Dewey exerted little inuence in Hus pragmatist experiment in China, even though Dewey was also a participant. Dewey was

Dewey as a Teacher

39

aware that Hus reform approach was not very practical, that intellectual,
attitudinal changes still depended on concrete changes in economic and
social conditions, but Dewey was in no position to intervene. He was only
a foreign guest, and he respected Hus approach as a distinctive mode of
Chinese thinking. In addition, Dewey was aware of the ideological battles between those who received overseas education in countries such as
Japan, the United States, France, and Germany. Dewey acknowledged the
New Culture group Hu led and was willing to give face to their liberal
ideals. Dewey wrote to his colleague commenting on what he might have
achieved in China, My guess is that what is accomplished is mostly by
way of giving face to the younger liberal element. Its a sort of outside
reinforcement in spite of its vagueness.96 Deweys particular choice of
the Chinese idiom giving face seems to suggest that he knew that Hu
was using his authority as a Western scholar to strengthen the case for his
cultural-intellectualistic reform. Dewey knew that what he symbolized
was more important than what he said.
When pondering whether he should stay one more year in China,
Dewey wrote to his children, expressing doubts about his role in China:
Some people say [Ive] stirred up considerable interest, but when you
are entirely outside the fuss interest, if any, you stir up, its about as
exciting to your vanity as pouring hot water on the Arctic ice would
be. [Its] much as if you were told that something you had said had
aroused interest in Mars when you had never been in Mars, never
expected to be there and had no share of any kind in what is doing
there. I [dont] suppose I convey the idea; [its] a curious experience,
and until youve been thru [sic] a similar one you [cant] get it, for
ordinarily ones vanity is a part of the reverberationsif any, and you
[cant] help imagining yourself having something to do with what
you are said to accomplish. But there is no more kick to this than there
would be if you had a pole which happened to touch something in
Marthe [sic] moonto try once more.97

Dewey was puzzled by his role in Chinawhether he was truly a teacher

or just an outsideralbeit an honored one. On another occasion, Dewey
compared the difference between the Chinese and Japanese in their attitudes toward foreign experts. When Japan engages foreign experts, she
is interested in results, and so gives them a free hand till [sic] she has
learned what they have to give. China engages the foreign expertand
then courteously shelves him (MW 11: 208). Dewey seemed to be implying his own experience in China.
On the Chinese stage, Dewey played a subordinate role by supporting his students in their endeavor to reform Chinese society. As Remer

40

john dewey in china

pointed out in 1920, Dewey cannot apply his own philosophy to Chinese
life. It will require someone as close to Chinese thought as he is close to
American thought to do this. He can, however, help this forward by his
presence in China and by his advice to the Chinese who are hopeful and
intelligent enough to undertake it.98 In his attempt to estimate Deweys
inuence in China, Remer made these thoughtful comments that are
worth quoting in great length:
The rst impression that one gets, who tries to arrive at the Chinese
estimate of Dewey, is an impression that has been cleverly connected
by a Chinese university professor with the second character that is
used to represent Deweys name in Chinese. The second character
means awe-inspiring. One who talks with many Chinese about
Professor Dewey long enough to get past the rst statements that
Professor Deweys thoughts are very deep, soon comes upon this
feeling of awe. A whole number of the magazine, The New Education,
was devoted to the educational and philosophical ideas of Professor
Dewey. The writers, who are the most capable of any Chinese in the
country to so, undertake no critical analysis of Deweys teachings.
After some search no attempt is discoverable on the part of anyone
to make such a critical analysis. No one has attempted to distinguish
between the ideas of Professor Dewey that was useful in China today
and those that are not useful. No one has raised a voice to say that
they may be harmful. But it is perhaps too soon to nd any further
effect than the rst one. The Chinese are too polite to subject the ideas
of a guest to critical analysis when he is still a guest.99

Remer was right that few Chinese challenged Dewey in late 1919 and
early 1920. However, that the Chinese were too polite to subject the
ideas of their guest to critical analysis was not entirely true. Clopton and
Ou wrote that Deweys inuence rst began to diminish after the May 30
Incident of 1925.100 We shall see that criticisms of Dewey began to appear
in newspapers in the summer of 1920, which happened while Dewey was
still a guest in the countrybusy traveling, lecturing, and writing. As
one commentator suggests, The only way Dewey could assist the young
Chinese was to try to understand their problems from their own perspectives.101 This is exactly what Dewey did, as we shall see in chapter four.

chapter 3

THE RECEPTION OF DEWEY IN CHINA

Judging from the wide circulation and the immense popularity of Deweys lectures in China, one would expect to nd many commentaries
about Dewey in the hundreds of publications that emerged during the
May Fourth period. However, secondary literature on Dewey comprises
only a few newspaper commentaries and journal articles. The reasons for
this lack of scholarly interest in Dewey are manifold. Some may have been
so overwhelmed by the Dewey fad that they became merely receptive
rather than reective. Some may have refrained from criticizing Dewey
while he was still a guest in the country. Others may have had too limited
an understanding of Dewey to write about him.1 Many people may have
referred to Dewey without direct attribution. However, a thorough investigation into these references lies beyond the scope of this book and may
not yield important results.
Scholars have approached the question about Deweys inuence on
Chinese intellectuals through case studies. I am here concerned with how
the general public received Dewey, particularly those outside the immediate circle of his associates and supporters. I attempt to piece together an
impression from the archival sources collected in Beijing. The rst part of
this chapter analyzes newspaper commentaries about Dewey during his
visit and presents a chronological account of these responses. My account
features Deweys instant success in 1919, followed by a slight decline in
1920 and 1921. The change in Deweys popularity was affected by many
things, including Bertrand Russells visit, a growing interest among radicals in Bolshevik socialism, and the founding of the Chinese Communist Party in July 1921, coincidentally the same month when Dewey and
Russell both left China. The second part of the chapter examines critical
41

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john dewey in china

reviews of Deweys ideas, most of which appeared after Deweys departure. I divide my discussion into the reception of Deweys social and political philosophy and that of his educational philosophy. My goal is to
provide a dynamic picture of the cross-cultural exchange between Dewey
and Chinese intellectuals during the May Fourth period.

The Dewey Fad

Thanks to the publicity efforts of Hu Shih, Dewey became a fad while
he was in China.2 In late March 1919, when he received Deweys letter
conrming the visit, Hu translated and published the letter in the newspaper. He also arranged a ten-day advertisement to spread the news.
During the entire time Dewey was in China, his activities were closely
followed in newspapers, and his lecture halls were always crowded
sometimes with as many as 3,000 people. As one Chinese observer noted,
since Dewey arrived in China, every educated person was eager to hear
him talk.3 Fascinated by Deweys lecture on experimentalism, another
suggested that the government should start building scientic laboratories. He asked, How can we cultivate the experimental spirit if we dont
have well-established scientic laboratories?4
One American professor who was present in China during the time
mentioned Deweys popularity in a personal letter. Seemly jealous of
Dewey, this professor wrote:
They say Deweys lectures were dry as dinosaur bones; one chap who
heard him said that if this educator should be announced to speak
in the average American university, it is doubtful if fty noses could
be counted when the head of the department of education arose to
announce the distinguished speaker. Not so with Chinese students.
Dewey lectured in many provincial capitals. In one place there were
a thousand middle-school students who did not have tickets to hear
a lecture. They marched in a body to the hall, broke past the armed
policemen at the door, and jammed in against the walls of an already
lled hall. We might imagine a thousand American college students
tramping over a squad of policemen to get out of a hall in which a
two-hour lecture by this educational theorist was about to begin.

The American professor continued with the comment that somehow

Deweys message tookIm not sure mine ever did:
[Dewey] was very simple and down-to-earthadvocated that all
education should have its use; that courses of study should equip
a student in life to be useful as a citizen. Above all he was practical.

The Reception of Dewey in China

43

Students should learn by going out to life and doing thingslearn

from the doing. This made a great dent on the Chinese mind, which
for centuries has been shaped by classical scholarshipexquisite reections about life, yes, but from a discreet distancelife as if seen
in a vista from a scholars study, set in a templelike retreat in a pine
grove on a lonely mountain. Dewey put them out in the streets.5

The previous examples, whether reecting the perspective of the Chinese themselves or that of local foreigners, all attest to Deweys fame and
popularity in China.
Dewey was generally well received in Beijing where the associates
and supporters of Hu Shih formed an inuential liberal camp. Hus eminent student, Lo Jialun, encapsulated Deweys educational theories in a
single sentenceschool is society and education is lifewhich became
catch phrases of the time.6 Lo also highlighted Deweys criticisms of
exam-oriented education by saying that examinations encourage competition, make children passive, and deprive them of their self-esteem.7 A
few months later, a student at Beijing University proclaimed a manifesto
against examinations and proudly urged his fellow students to throw
away the pen of examination, which he said was inspired by Deweys repudiation of rote learning.8 Such a rebellious attitude captured the overall
orientation of the youth at that time. As noted, near the end of his stay,
Dewey was particularly troubled by the incident in which students in
Beijing jointly refused to take any examinations, insisting that they were
inuenced by Dewey. Deweys decision to return to Beijing disappointed
many in Guandong who were eager to hear him talk. According to the
Morning Post, one hundred people were reported to have gathered at the
train station to stop Dewey from leaving.9
However, during his lecture tours in various provinces of China,
Dewey usually encountered strong antagonism from government and
school authorities. For example, on December 24, 1919, Dewey arrived
in Shandong only to discover that the governor had cabled a message to
the authorities in Beijing saying, I do not approve of their coming here to
lecture, however, since they already arrived, I would cordially welcome
them. This must have been an unforgettable Christmas Eve for Dewey.
Moreover, at a social gathering, the minister of education in Shandong
openly complained about Deweys lecture, saying that he should have
underscored the teachers responsibility to enforce rules and regulate students conduct.10 Likewise, when Dewey traveled south to Nanjing and
Hangzhou in the spring of 1920, the ofcials there were also hostile. In his
lecture on A New Conception of Life, the word new had to be omitted in the printing in order not to give offense, as Dewey was notied.
He told his children jokingly, I am just as popular with the ofcials here

44

john dewey in china

as elsewhere.11 In Hangzhou, education authorities held a private meeting with Dewey in advance to discuss the contents of his lectures. They
hoped that Dewey would not say anything radical to agitate the students
and that he would criticize, and thus deter, the radical behavior of students who took charge of schools and dismissed teachers.
One person, known by the pen name Boan, reported these secret arrangements behind the scenes and ridiculed the ofcials attempt to coopt Dewey. Boan assured that Dewey had always stood by his principles.
Nonetheless, many students had begun to doubt Deweys integrity. They
believed that Dewey succumbed to the pressure from the authorities and
did not truly express what he thought. Some criticized Deweys lectures
for being too vague to be useful, whereas others found them to be too simplistic and commonsensical. Some even complained that Dewey enjoyed
a high standard of living and charged too much for his lectures. Boan
tried to defend Dewey against these charges. He insisted that Dewey and
his wife dressed rather humbly and their standard of living was not very
high compared to other Westerners; Deweys salary from the government
was actually much less than what he deserved; and Dewey attempted to
connect theory with practice, thereby deliberately rendering his lectures
easily accessible. Boan asserted that Deweys pragmatism was more useful than European philosophy because it focuses on concrete facts, not on
abstract theories. As for the suspicion that Deweys thoughts were polluted by the air in Hangzhou, Boan claimed, If you compare Deweys
own writings with the lectures, you would see no contradictions. Boan
was sympathetic to Dewey because he was truly a good and sincere person. He came all the way to help us and enlighten us, almost forgetting
that he was an American, treating us like his own fellow countrymen.12
By contrast, the leftist camp was hostile. Dewey was once reported to
have criticized communism by saying that it cannot help with practical
tasks such as river inundation and pestilence control. China should be
more concerned with how to increase production effectively than with
how to distribute wealth equally. One reader in a left-wing periodical,
Awakening, disagreed with Dewey and said that China did not suffer as
much from a shortage of special experts as from the capitalists and the
bourgeois. The only thing these experts ever did was to smuggle public
money into their own pockets. Even though doctors were available, ordinary people could not afford medical care and were left to die. Isnt this
the result of unfair distribution of wealth? Dewey has been in China for
more than one year. Did he really not understand the situation of Chinese
society? Or was it that the particular atmosphere in Hangzhou prevented
him from expressing his true opinions?13
Another reader, known by the pen name Xiping, took Deweys criticism of Marxisms class ideology as a rejection of socialism itself and

The Reception of Dewey in China

45

claimed that even though the number of capitalists in China was very
limited, the gap between the rich and the poor was so deplorable that
China absolutely needed to implement socialism.14 Xiping was also appalled by Deweys positive remark about the traditional family system
in China: despite its many problems, the system had cultivated a sense
of unity and the virtue of lial pity. In light of the fact that almost every
publication at that time denounced the traditional family system and advocated drastic reform, we should be surprised that only one person challenged Deweys opinion. In fact, Dewey did not oppose family reform,
but was only concerned about some radical proposals, such as the rearing
of children by public authorities.15 Because of the weightiness of Deweys
words, his thoughtful caution was regarded as a severe threat.
In general, these left-wing critics of Dewey were concerned with the
impoverished lives of the Chinese masses, as Dewey indeed was. However,
they attributed the problem to the exploitation by rich capitalists and privileged ofcials, not to the overall lack of industrial development. Dewey
thought that Chinas problems were economic at root due to the struggle
for existence, and that a new industrial development will in time crowd
them outthough he added that the Chinese will take on many Western vices, and lose many of their old virtues, by carrying love of money,
intrigue, mutual suspicion, and calumny into the new situation.16 Having
visited many provinces in China, Dewey was convinced that the pervasive
problem of poverty should take priority over labor questions because it
affected all parts of China. These commentaries on Dewey were printed in
Shanghai, where the labor movement was beginning to gain momentum.17
The critics seemed to be fervent socialists and were not satised with the
way Dewey downplayed the struggle of labor and capital. Whereas Dewey
was concerned with the development of China as a whole, they were concerned with the emerging problems in the industrializing center of China.
Naturally, when Russell came to visit China with his stringent criticisms of
Western capitalism and imperialism, they turned their attention to Russell.
Dewey was right when he predicted that my star such as it was will set
as the charismatic Russell arrived in China.18
In My hope for Bertrand Russell, which also appeared in Awakening,
Zhenying began by referring to Dewey and his initial popularity. However, many gradually came to think that Deweys pragmatic sensibilities
were at odds with the revolutionary spirit of the times. Even students
at Beijing University became disillusioned with the Dewey fad and
wanted to reject his inuence, which was thought to reect the defects
of U.S. capitalism and religion. Since we are disappointed in Dewey,
we need to place our hope on Dr. Russell. Russell was a radical social
reformer who had learned many lessons from the [British] government
and had come to complete disillusionment with it. Zhenying called

46

john dewey in china

Russell an anarchist scholar and professed to be inspired by Russells

scholarly knowledge and his personal integrity. An apparent believer in
anarchism, Zhenying anticipated that Russells lectures would be solely
on pure social philosophyunlike what Dewey did in mixing social and
political philosophy as if humans could not survive without politics.19
Perhaps the best way to conclude the discussion of Deweys reception during his stay is to look at the farewell essay one of Deweys associates wrote on the day of his departure. Who is Dr. Dewey? Sun Fuyuan
asked. A synthesis of various kinds of events, he replied:
The Dr. Dewey in your head may be the professor at the podium at
Columbia University, or the person who occasionally talked to you or
had lunch with you. The Dr. Dewey in someone elses head may not
be the Dewey from the podium or the dinner table, because he may
never meet Dewey in person. His Dr. Dewey may be the Dewey of
the Five Major Lecture Seriesthe ideational Dewey, not the physical
Dewey. Yet another persons Dr. Dewey may not reside in the real
person or his works, but in the picture on the rst page of that book.
Since different people have different Deweys in mind, and since
Dr. Dewey is exactly the synthesis of these different conceptions,
then how does the physical Dewey that is gone today compare to this
Dr. Dewey in our heads?20

Suns seemingly scattered thoughts actually pointed to something signicant: that Dr. Dewey was a phenomenon created by the desires, hopes,
and frustrations of different individuals and groups in China. Some knew
about his thoughts, and others, only his name. Sun was also right when
he concluded, Part of Dr. Dewey is not gone. An array of critical evaluations of Deweys ideas began to appear soon after his departure.

Marxist Challenges to Deweys Social and Political Philosophy

Strong antagonism toward capitalism and a fervent commitment to socialism characterized much of the radical thinking of the May Fourth
era. Let me summarize a few major events in 1920 that contribute to the
critical evaluation of Deweys social and political philosophy. According to Arif Dirlik, Chinese radicals by 1919 had begun to perceive the
social problems of Chinese society as a local manifestation of a global
capitalism that knew no boundaries.21 However, they disagreed among
themselves with regard to what form of socialism best suited Chinas
situation and needs: anarchism, state socialism, social democracy, syndicalism, guild socialism, or Bolshevik socialism. Before 1920, anarchism
had exerted a stronger inuence than Marxism. However, in the spring

The Reception of Dewey in China

47

of 1920, the Comintern sent a Russian representative, Gregory Voitinsky,

to spread communist thought in China.
Responding favorably to Voitinsky, Li Dazhao established the Society for the Study of Marxist Theory in Beijing University in March 1920.
In May of the same year, the Chinese Communist Party was secretly
founded in Shanghai, and Chen Duxiu was elected secretary.22 Meanwhile, Chinese intellectuals learned of the Karakhan declaration of the
Soviet government, which led many to think highly of the Bolshevik regime. The declaration proposed the abrogation of all secret and unequal
treaties made between the Tsarist government and China, along with a
relinquishment of all its former privileges and interests without compensation. Due to these friendly acts of the Russian communists, Chinese
intellectuals increasingly began to take communism seriously.23 These
events may also have created a motivation and a vocabulary to criticize
Deweys Americanism. Even though Deweys lectures had been very
popular throughout the course of his visit, the reception of his ideas,
indeed, uctuated with these major events in 1920 and 1921. Although
many still favored Anglo-American liberalism, despite the setbacks of
liberal ideals at Versailles, the pro-Soviet, pro-communist tide was surely
rising. Signicantly, in July 1921, the month when Dewey and Russell
left China, thirteen communists met in Shanghai under the supervision
of two Comintern advisors to establish formally the Communist Party of
China. This change in interest from U.S. liberalism to Russian communism affected the evaluation of Deweys ideas.
The following examines three articles that evaluated Deweys social
and political philosophy: one written by Chen Duxiu in December 1919
before he was converted to communism; another by a fervent socialist, Fei
Juetian, in late 1921; and the other by a prominent leader of the Chinese
Communist Party, Qu Qiubai, in 1924. Even though only three sources
gure in my discussion, these essays, taken together, present a clear picture of Deweys receptionbefore and after Bolshevik communism was
considered a more attractive model than U.S. liberalism.
Chen Duxiu was highly interested in Deweys lecture on Democratic
Developments in America. Jerome Grieder argues that Chens own essay, The Basis for the Realization of Democracy, reects a temporary
acceptance of Deweys suggestions for social reform.24 At the time of writing, Chen was thinking in terms of slow reform rather than all-embracing
solutions. Chen began his essay by acknowledging Deweys broad delineation of democracy in terms of political constitution, civil rights, social equality, and economic justice. Chinese historian Benjamin Schwartz
contends, Dewey had outlined a conception of democracy which exceeded in breath and depth anything that [Chen Duxiu] understood by
that term and that Chen accepted wholeheartedly Professor Deweys

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john dewey in china

broader conception.25 In fact, the appeal of Deweys conception of democracy lay not only in its breath and depth, but also in its emphasis
on social and economic issues. Chen remarked that all socialists would
share Deweys belief about social and economic democracy. Moreover,
he endorsed Deweys claim that the realization of democracy should not
be limited to the political sphere. The elevation of social life should be
the primary goal.26 However, it was not clear whether Chen would dene
the elevation of social life in terms of open communication and free
exchange of ideas as Dewey would.
Nonetheless, Chen did not accept everything Dewey said. He actually suggested that Dewey blend the four dimensions into twothe political and the socioeconomic. Chen found the analysis of democracy concerning civil rights redundant because democracy assumes that citizens
are not slaves and are naturally entitled to freedom of movement, speech,
publication, and religion. Moreover, Chen did not trust what Dewey said
about political democracy: that individual liberties can be protected by
the constitution and that public opinion can be secured by a republican
government. In light of the total failure of Chinas republican government,
Chen argued that a mere system of representation and constitutionalism
would not ensure the realization of political democracy. He said that the
best system was direct legislation, which would lead to the breaking
down of the distinction between those who govern and those who were
governed. People should no longer passively allow the authority and
the bureaucracy to take control; they should take the initiative in governing themselves.27 Chen did not specify what he meant by direct legislation. He probably meant initiative, referendum, and recall, as Chow
suggested. 28 Nevertheless, Chen, like most people at that time, clearly
had little faith in any form of representative government.
Chen was especially inspired by Deweys historical account of the
United States grassroots democracy, which was developed from selfgoverning villages and towns rather than imposed by the legislation of
the federal government. Chen was not the only person taken with this
idea. As Dewey referred in his letter, whenever I make a remark such
as the Americans do not depend upon the govt to do things for them
but go ahead and do things themselves, the response is immediate and
emphatic. The Chinese are socially a very democratic people and their
centralized govt bores them.29 Chen stated that he was not disheartened
about the future of democracy in China because of its democratic roots in
history, as manifested in various professional unions and local organizations. Democracy seemed to have failed in China because people thought
of democracy in terms of constitutions imposed from above. Chen understood now that democracy must have a grassroots basis; it must penetrate
into the social fabric of life; and it must begin in every town, village, and

The Reception of Dewey in China

49

city. In Chens view, Chinese intellectuals had been wasting their energy
discussing questions such as how to organize the cabinet and the parliament, how to revise the constitution, and whether to adopt a system of
centralization or federation. He lamented, no one had cared to inquire
into how people could govern and unite themselves.30
Few people at the time had any genuine understanding of how
Western political democracy actually functioned.31 Chens critique of
Deweys conception of democracy reected his own concern with socioeconomic questions as well as his limited understanding of democratic
procedure and institutions. In his proposal, Chen took Deweys advice
to use Chinas traditional guild system to build a grassroots foundation.
He believed that China could develop democracy using England and
America as a model.32 He quoted from Deweys lecture to emphasize
democracy as the best possible society because democracy means education. It is a tool for education. It lets you know that politics is not the
special privilege of a few powerful people but is something that everyone can and should be involved in.33 The concept of self-governance
was indeed very attractive to Chen.
At the end of 1919, Chen had not considered the Marxist ideology of
class struggle as a viable means for bringing about revolutionary change
in China. Only later did he accept Li Dazhaos proclamation of China
as a proletarian nation. Nonetheless, Chen had always been sympathetic
toward the Bolsheviks and resentful of Western imperialism.34 In light
of the complexity and volatility of his own thought, it is problematic to
argue for Chens wholehearted acceptance of Deweys liberalism. It is
equally problematic to regard Chens ideological orientation in late 1919
as somewhat well-dened, although temporary. As Dirlik points out,
The immediate May Fourth period in China was a period not of ideological certainty (except perhaps for liberals such as Hu Shih), but of visionary quest, ideological uctuations, and political self-searching.35 Chens
temporary acceptance of Deweys liberalism was a case in point.
Scholars often contrast the short-lived inuence of Dewey on Chens
thinking with his dramatic conversion, months later, to communism.
Schwartz contends, Democracy and Science had failed; Professor Deweys program would require years of undramatic self-effacing work for
its implementation, and even offered no hopes of any overall redemption.36 Schwartz adds, it would have required a going to the people
on the part of the intelligentsia with the aim of carrying on the political education of the people and of helping them to organize themselves
along democratic lines. Chen was not ready to play this role for which
traditional Chinese civilization provided few precedents.37 Schwartz attributes the failure of democracy and science to the factors in Deweys
philosophy as well as in Chens own attitude. However, current external

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john dewey in china

circumstances also played an important role in the intellectuals growing

interest in Marxism.
As Chow observes, The appalling economic situation of China and
the postwar world not only led the leftists to distrust Western political institutions, but also induced some leading liberals . . . to doubt that Western political institutions, especially representative government, were
useful to cope with the existing political and economic problems both
in China and in the West.38 Likewise, Dirlik notes that after the political
emergence of labor in June 1919, socialism became all the more relevant:
The emergence of labor . . . provided seemingly incontrovertible proof
that Chinas problems were rooted in the global forces of capitalism.
The emergence of labor forced intellectuals to realize that capitalism
was already a reality of Chinese society. In the postwar world, alive
with the revolutionary ferment of labor against capital and of colonies against imperialist states, it seemed superuous to distinguish
social problems on the basis of national boundaries. The ideological
cosmopolitanism of the New Culture Movement had predisposed
intellectuals to think in universalist terms. Now socialism lost its remoteness and appeared as a universal solution as immediately relevant to China as to any other society.39

As Dewey also wrote, most of the young people he met in China were
socialists, and some call themselves communists.40 In their minds, all
socialists look much alike, except that Bolsheviks are to them really carrying it out.41 Therefore, Dewey would probably not have been too surprised to learn that many of them later indeed become communists.
In late 1921, Fei Juetian wrote a scathing critique of Deweys lectures
on social and political philosophy. Disagreeing with Deweys comment
about the cause of international conicts, Fei claimed that conicts exist
not between nations, but between classes. It was unrealistic for Dewey
to hope that through the development of industry and education, China
could endow individuals with rights while also providing the opportunities to exercise those rights. This could be realized only by carrying
out a revolution as the Russians did. However, Fei remarked that Dewey
would be too chicken-hearted to endorse such a radical plan. Fei further
asserted that Deweys experimental approach to politics based on collective inquiry and continuous reform simply did not make sense. If I tell
the world that we should experiment with socialism and see if it works,
people would think that I am crazy and would oppose this experiment.
If I proclaim that socialism holds the ultimate truth to solving problems
in todays society, that there is no better theory than socialism, people
will become interested in its practice and help transform the theory into a

The Reception of Dewey in China

51

reality. Fei insisted, the experimental method would not work in reality
because no one would want to risk their lives and their properties simply
for the sake of experiment.42
Fei rejected Deweys particularistic approach to solving social problems, claiming that social problems were all interrelated and could not
be dissected into this or that particular problem. An educational problem
may have been tied to a political or economic problem. The notion of a
particular problem in need of a particular solution was unconvincing. Fei
also disagreed with Dewey that social theories should be grounded in
concrete facts, not on abstract speculations. Fei used Marx as an example
to show how one ultimately needs to rely on a leap of imagination, rather
than mere accumulation of facts, to diagnose social problems and offer
remedies. He condemned Dewey for overly replying on contingent social
knowledge at the expense of eternal truths, without which, he believed,
human civilizations would not advance. He completely denounced Deweys claim that science, with its emphasis on experimentation and facts,
could be applied to solving social problems. In addition, Fei claimed that
identifying problems was often more important than solving problems.
For instance, autocracy had been a fundamental problem in Chinese society for thousands of years, yet no one had questioned it. Fei believed
that social problems were not difcult to resolve if only the proletariat
were made aware of their oppression by the capitalists and thus united to
ght for their rights. He concluded that Deweys experimental approach
would not work; only a social revolution, a class war, could provide the
antidote to all of Chinas ills.
Dewey was right when he said that China was a good place to study
revolutionary idealism. As he insightfully wrote in a letter to Albert
Barnes, The whole temper among the younger generation is revolutionary, they are so sick of their old institutions that they assume any change
will be for the betterthe more extreme and complete the change, the better. And they seem to me to have little idea of the difculties in the way
of any constructive change. Dewey pointed out the wonderful chance
to study the psychology of revolutionary idealismif I could only read
Chinese. As Dewey also reected, I never realized before the meaning
of the background we consciously carry around with us as a standard
of criticism. Not having any such background as to modern institutions,
to the liberals here anything is likely to be as true and valuable as anything else, only provided [that] it is different. The more extreme, the more
likely upon the whole.43 Feis criticisms of Dewey, along with Deweys
own reection, illustrate the importance of context in shaping the comprehension and application of theories.
Let me respond to the charges against Deweys social and political
philosophy. First of all, Deweys idea of social experimentation does not

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john dewey in china

mean random experimentation; it requires careful planning informed

by knowledge about social realities. Deweys rejection of metaphysical
truths, independent of human intelligence and experience, does not lead
to a rejection of truth per se or a denial of some universally veriable
and veried truths. Deweys emphasis on particularity aims to avoid
oversimplied abstractions and sweeping generalization that often take
our attention away from concrete phenomena. It is not to suggest that
social problems can be dissected into discrete units and solved separately. Deweys emphasis on facts in guiding social inquiry is not to exclude the importance of vision but to prevent self-deluding utopianism.
Evidently, Deweys cautions fell on deaf ears to those who were longing
for a deus ex machina that would lift them up from the quagmire of
their shattered world.
Let us look briey at the last piece of critique written by a committed
Marxist in 1924, which expressed similar sentiments. In Pragmatism and
Revolutionary Philosophy, published in New Youth, Qu Qiubai stated
that pragmatism in the United States was a secular philosophy aiming to
maintain the status quo, not a revolutionary philosophy. When applied
to China, pragmatism beneted the bourgeoisie: It tells you how to develop your individuality and discard traditions. However, when applied
to the proletariat, it tells you not to care about socialism and just solve
whatever problems you have at hand.44 Pragmatism urged people to
cope with their environment but assigned different coping mechanisms
for different classes. Even though pragmatism is often associated with
modern science, Qu argued that the association was erroneous because
pragmatism acknowledges only practical knowledge but rejects eternal
scientic truths. The fatal weakness of pragmatism was that it does not
endorse the intrinsic values of theoriesall theories are judged true or
false simply by their consequences in practice. Pragmatists treat theories
merely as tools for coping with the environment; they prize the instrumental values of theories whose truths are valued in proportion with
their usefulness.45 In contrast to the pragmatic emphasis on utilitarian truth, Marxism upholds scientic truths. Qu wrote, Since we have
acquired many scientic truths concerning the objective laws of the universe, we need to reconstruct society based on these scientic laws.46
He urged his fellow Chinese not to follow the pragmatists piece-meal
approach to reform but to resort to revolution to build society anew.
One scholar observes aptly, [Man] can adapt himself somehow to
anything his imagination can cope with; but he cannot deal with Chaos.
Because his characteristic function and highest asset is conception, his
greatest fright is to meet what he cannot construe.47 In a way, Chinese
intellectuals, such as Chen, Fei and Qu, were all trying to make sense
of what was happening to them and the world at largeparticularly of

The Reception of Dewey in China

53

what brought China to its current crises. In their desperate hope for a
sweeping and all-embracing solution, they were drawn to the messianic
message of Marx with its neat dualisms, simple categories, and promise
of redemption. Contrary to Deweys pragmatic outlook, Marxs and Lenins authoritative credos found a receptive audience among the radicals
such as Fei and Qu. Their criticisms of Dewey reected the gradual consolidation of Marxist ideologies in the intellectual landscape of China.
In fact, throughout his stay, Dewey had been sympathetic to the radicals devotion to social change. He would agree with them that as one
of the oldest civilizations on earth, China was in need of a revolution.
Nonetheless, it would not be a revolution in the sense of a class war that
would end the misery of the poor, but in the sense of a thorough transformation of its culture and social institutions to meet modern challenges.
As Dewey reected, Marxs doctrine belongs to compensatory psychology and expresses a proof of weakness. A real revolution, Dewey
thought, will proceed from strength, from increased strength of capacity
and position (MW 12: 20). This is why Dewey urged the Chinese to use
their democratic roots as a basis for the transformation of their culture
and society. However, Deweys unique vision of revolution was incomprehensible to the Chinese who were too overshadowed by the power of
the West to see the light from within.

Traditionalist Responses to Deweys Educational Philosophy

Whereas Marxist ideologies inuenced the reception of Deweys social
and political philosophy, the reception of Deweys educational philosophy was inuenced by traditionalist values and beliefs. Let me briey
explain the traditionalist forces in May Fourth China to provide a framework for subsequent analyses.
During the peak of the May Fourth movement when champions of democracy and science were severely attacking Confucianism for obstructing social progress, the old intelligentsia were completely defenseless.
They could not effectively defend traditional Chinese culture without a
sophisticated understanding of Western civilization and its limitations.
However, the situation changed when the aftermath of World War I led
many to reevaluate Western thought. In his inuential work, Travel
Impressions from Europe, published in mid-1920, Liang Qichao proclaimed that European civilization was bankrupt due to its blind worship of science and its overemphasis on material progress. He asserted
that the spiritual tradition of China could help redress the European
problem. Liangs afrmation of Chinese culture was inspired by European philosophers such as Bergson and Eucken, who were traumatized
by the war and looked to the pacist traditions in Eastern civilization for

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john dewey in china

the salvation of the West. Sensitive to the self-doubts of these Western

thinkers, Liang responded to their romanticized images of the East with a
renewed enthusiasm about the intrinsic worth of Chinese culture. Liang
told his fellow Chinese that many Western thinkers attempted to import
Eastern civilization as a corrective to their own; therefore, they should endeavor to develop a new world civilization based on a synthesis of the
East and the West.48
Following Liang Qichaos call to reconstruct traditional Chinese
culture, Liang Shuming, a self-taught scholar of Indian philosophy and
Confucianism, published a pioneering book in 1921, Eastern and Western
Cultures and Their Philosophies. Liang referred to Dewey at the beginning
of his book, saying that Dewey often reminded teachers and students at
Beijing University that they should integrate Eastern and Western cultures for the benet of humanity.49 Liang was teaching Indian philosophy
at Beijing University when Dewey was a visiting scholar there; therefore,
Liang might have had personal contacts with Dewey. Judging from Deweys articles about China and his philosophical orientation, what Liang
said about Deweys suggestion to harmonize Eastern and Western cultures may have been true. In his book Liang contended that the problem
of the West, as revealed by the war, lay in its proclivity toward extremes.
The fundamental spirit of Chinese cultureits capacity for harmonizing
dualismwas especially equipped to reconcile divergent forces in the
modern world and to help create a new humanistic world culture. In his
attempt to defend Chinese tradition against May Fourth iconoclasm, Liang advocated the Confucian appreciation of life, the belief in moderation, the emphasis on intuition, benevolence, and contentedness. He insisted that sacricing Chinas own spirit in favor of a foreign ethos would
only undermine its potential and lead to self-annihilation. Apart from
Liang Qichao and Liang Shuming, another group of young professors at
Nanjing Normal University formed a coalition against the new literature
movement led by Hu Shih. Most group members were educated in the
West and were interested in classicism and Irving Babbitts New Humanism.50 In January 1922 they established a journal, the Critical Review, to
disseminate their thoughts.
The rst article that formally evaluated Deweys educational theories
was published in the Critical Review. In this article, Mo Fenglin reviewed
Deweys most well-known book, Democracy and Education. He rst acknowledged Deweys contribution in connecting education to broader
experiences in life and the larger society. However, he criticized Dewey
for neglecting religious and aesthetic dimensions of human experience.
Life, he said, was not simply about coping with problems in the environment; it should also be about appreciating life itself. Because the purpose
of education was to shape intellectual and moral dispositions, Dewey

The Reception of Dewey in China

55

was wrong to talk more about geography and history than about art. Furthermore, Dewey mistook inventions for ne arts. The intrinsic value of
ne arts, such as Sophocles and Shakespeares plays, Phaedias sculptures, is not to be compared to the instrumental value of an invented
object such as a printing machine or a coin.51 Art enriches life in spite of
its lack of practical use.
Deweys child-centered education was also a target of criticism.
Mo accused Dewey of advocating random expressions of the impulses
of youth, thus turning the autocracy of the adult into an autocracy of
the child. He also thought that Deweys emphasis on interest and play
would sacrice the importance of discipline and effort in the educational
process. Mo remarked that ancient sages in China set a good example of
how one should overcome harsh realities and achieve excellence through
strong will, rigorous discipline, and hard work. Even though Deweys
democratic theories of education successfully challenged an aristocratic
style of learning enjoyed only by a privileged few, Dewey failed to consider what Mo called natural aristocracy. These are people whose virtues and talents stand out among the ordinary and who refuse to mingle
with the crowd. Inuenced by Babbitts New Humanism, Mo said that
Socrates and Plato were examples of natural aristocracy who contributed immensely to the development of Western civilization. Deweys theories could only apply to the education of the massesnot to exceptional
people. Lastly, Mo faulted Dewey for putting too much emphasis on elementary education at the expense of adult learning. Deweys Democracy
and Education was, at most, a philosophy of elementary education, not a
philosophy of education. Mo lamented the fact that Deweys book was
regarded as the bible of the eld.
Another critic, Wu Jiangling, complimented Deweys effort to unite
knowledge with experience so that learning was not limited to what was
contained in books.52 She also perceived great value in Deweys concept
of school as a miniature society and his emphasis on learning by doing.
However, Wu shared many of Mos criticisms. She felt that Deweys vision of education was too narrow because he talked only about controlling the environment without mentioning the importance of appreciating
the environment. Wu asserted that Dewey advocated a life completely
governed by rationality to the exclusion of sentiments. She also agreed
with Mo that Deweys focus on children did not qualify his book to be
properly regarded as the philosophy of education. She thought that
Dewey should speak to the entire life span, rather than focusing simply
on childhood. Likewise, Wu also concurred with Mo that Deweys reliance on interest contradicted the importance of discipline and effort.
The third review, written by Lin Zhaoyin, summarized many of the
objections previous critics raised. Lin criticized Dewey for emphasizing

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john dewey in china

process over purpose, society over the individual, the child over the adult,
interest over discipline, rationality over sentiment, participation over contemplation and practical life over spiritual life.53 Dewey emphasized the
importance of social sympathy and responsibility, but neglected the importance of individual interests and needs. In her opinion, schools should
help transform society to serve individual needs better. Lin also thought
that Deweys process-oriented conception of education prevented him
from specifying the aims of education, thus rendering the educational
process haphazard and pointless. Like Mo, she called on ancient sages to
attest to the importance of establishing profound goals in life, as opposed
to moment-by-moment experimentation. She also found Deweys scientic, rational approach to life limited and inadequate. Dewey represented
a typical Western mindset in its excessive desire to control nature rather
than appreciate it. Dewey only knew the value of an active life but not
that of a tranquil life.54 Lin applauded the Indian philosopher-poet Rabindranath Tagore for promoting an ideal of tranquil life.55
Apart from the inuence of traditionalist sentiments of the time, the
education reform decree in 1922, which represented the dominance of
U.S. inuence on Chinese education, might have motivated these critics to evaluate Deweys ideas on education. After 1922, people began to
question foreign inuences on Chinese education. In late 1924 and 1925,
the movement to restore educational sovereign rights emerged as a response to the rise of nationalistic feelings. One critic accused U.S.-trained
educators of introducing trendy theories, such as the Montessori methods
or the Dalton Plan, as if they were hawking commercial goods. Classroom
teachers and school principals became the real victims, constantly trying to keep up with new trends but not knowing how.56 Another critic
stated, in the past, we relied on the ancients and now we rely on the foreigners.57 Traditional Chinese education had prized spiritual reection;
however, the tradition had been completely discarded in the new education program. He attacked the utilitarian emphasis of the new education
and deplored the fact that students of his day resisted anything that was
not pleasurable and suffered greatly from lack of self-control. He faulted
the students of Dewey and Paul Monroe for failing to carry out practices
in keeping with their theories.58 As pointed out in another essay, the socalled new education was American education, Japanese education, or
German educationdepending on where the advocates of new education
received their overseas educationbut not Chinese education.59 Even
though Dewey was not directly attacked in this wave of criticism, his inuence and popularity dropped dramatically during these years.
In many ways, these Chinese critics reactions to Dewey reected a
simplistic and reductionist view of pragmatism as coping-with-the-environment-ism.60 This was a unique nickname of pragmatism in May

The Reception of Dewey in China

57

Fourth China that probably owes much to Hu Shihs interpretations. In

Fundamental Ideas in Deweys Philosophy, Hu wrote that Dewey saw
experience as methods to cope with the future, to predict the future and
to relate to the future. Experience is life, he said, and life is the transaction between man and his environment and the application of thought
in the guidance of all other abilities. The purpose, Hu specied, was to
utilize the environment, to conquer it, subdue it and dominate it.61 Hus
interpretations may have led many to label pragmatism as copying-withthe-environment-ism as opposed to appreciating-the-environment-ism.
This label also reected the prevailing stereotype of Westerners: they only
seek to control nature, rather than to appreciate nature as it is.
Most criticisms of Dewey were misunderstandings. Take the comment for example that Dewey only talked about how individuals should
contribute to the needs of society rather than how society should be transformed to t with individual needs. It missed Deweys central contention
that education should be a vehicle for social change. Deweys Chinese
audiences were eager to throw off the shackle of tradition with all its constraints on the individual and were obviously not prepared to share his
concern with rugged individualism. Furthermore, Deweys comments
about interest and discipline often caused misunderstandings. In one
sense, the Chinese critics rejection can be seen as resulting from an inadequate understanding of what Dewey meant by interest and discipline in
education. Deweys purpose was to integrate interest and discipline into a
coherent educational process without sacricing either. He disagreed with
those who assumed that interest denotes mere personal states of pleasure
and that the subject matter in school has no interest for the students. Consequently, the teacher either has to present the material as sugarcoated or
make the student work hard through the sheer force of will.
Disapproving of both, Dewey wrote, To make [the subject matter]
interesting by leading one to realize the connection [between school curriculum and practical life] that exists is simply good sense. However,
to make it interesting by extraneous and articial inducements deserves
all the bad names which have been applied to the doctrine of interest in
education (MW 9: 134). Dewey thought that we need to clarify what we
mean by making things interesting. In a long article, Interest in the Relation to the Training of Will, Dewey claimed that our usual sense of the
concept often signies a divorce of object and self. Calling the term a
misnomer, Dewey remarked, When things have to be made interesting,
it is because interest itself is wanting . . . . The thing, the object, is no more
interesting than it was before. The appeal is simply made to the childs
love of pleasure (EW 5: 120).
However, Dewey did not mean to suggest that all pleasures are bad. He
attempted to distinguish two types of pleasure: One is the accompaniment

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john dewey in china

of activity. It is found whenever there is self-expression. It is simply the internal realization of the ongoing activity. This sort of pleasure is always absorbed in the activity itself. It has no separate existence in consciousness.
The other kind of pleasure arises from contact and marks receptivity. As Dewey said, Its stimuli are external. We take interest; we get
pleasure. The type of pleasure which arises from external stimulation is
isolated. It exists by itself in consciousness as a pleasure, not as the pleasure of activity (EW 5: 120). The latter is short-lived because the childs
energies are divided, oscillating between moments of excitement and of
boredom. The former is more enduring and educative because it stems
from, and thus helps to bring, the childs existing interests and powers
into richer expression and fuller development.
Having claried Deweys concept of interest, let us turn to his view
of discipline. First and foremost, Dewey did not oppose the importance
of discipline in education. His conception of discipline, however, is
quite unconventional. It is by no means a form of mechanical training.
As he wrote:
A person who is trained to consider his actions, to undertake them deliberately, is in so far disciplined. Add to this ability a power to endure
in an intelligently chosen course in face of distraction, confusion and
difculty, and you have the essence of discipline. Discipline means
power at command; mastery of the resources available for carrying
through the action undertaken. To know what one is to do and to
move to do it promptly and by use of the requisite means is to be disciplined, whether we are thinking of an army or a mind. (EW 5: 120)

Discipline does not mean exerting physical efforts merely, but mental efforts as well. Because interest is prerequisite for executive persistence,
it is impossible to discipline the mind without interest. Interest and discipline thus become interconnected, not opposed.
As a matter of fact, when writing at home or lecturing in China,
Dewey had to confront similar doubts and objections from those who
clung to traditional methods of education and valued the function of
effort in schoolwork, particularly, its moral implications. Traditionally,
people believed that pure volitional effort on the part of the student, quite
apart from any interest whatever, was the most desired result in school
study. Dewey insisted that we should esteem highly only the effort that
arises from a genuine interest in the studies themselves. Dewey found the
thought absurd that a child acquires more intellectual and moral training
when he conducts schoolwork with the sheer force of will, albeit unwillingly, than when he does it with complete heartfelt interest. As Dewey
argued, While the theory of effort is always holding up to us a strong,

The Reception of Dewey in China

59

vigorous character as the outcome of its method of education, practically

we do not get this character (EW 5: 115). Instead, the outcome is often a
confused soul or a dull character.
The child brought up on this basis naturally becomes accustomed to
divided attention, appearing to be occupied with the subject at hand,
while secretly engaging his energies in something else. Consequently, this
kind of training reduces the person to a wishy washy, colorless being;
or else to a state of moral dependence, with over-reliance upon others
and with continual demand for amusement and distraction (EW 5: 116).
Dewey elaborated, The great fallacy of the so-called effort theory is that
it identies the exercise and training of will with certain external activities and certain external results (EW 5: 118). I do not say that there is
absolutely no moral training involved in forming these habits of external
attention, Dewey wrote, but I do say that there is a question of moral
import involved in the formation of the habits of internal inattention
(EW 5: 119). In his view, internal inattention or divided attention often signies a moral weakness rather than strength.
Dewey was not opposed to effort, but he wanted to distinguish between a normal and an abnormal sense of effort, as he did with internal
and external sense of interest discussed earlier. Dewey dened normal
effort as persisting through obstacles and endeavoring to transform obstacles into means for the realization of ends, whereas abnormal effort
marks simply unreal strain unnecessarily involved in any attempt to
reach an end which is not part and parcel of the selfs own process (EW
5: 136). Normal effort involves seriousness, absorption, deniteness of
purpose, and results in formation of steadiness, persistent habits in the
service of worthy ends. Unlike abnormal effort, it never degenerates
into drudgery, mere strain of dead lift (EW 5: 12122). The more genuinely interested the person is in accomplishing the goal or task at hand,
the more persistent he or she will be in overcoming obstacles in the way.
In this respect, effort and interest are mutually reinforcing. Unfortunately,
Deweys unique perspectives on interest and discipline/effort had often
caused misunderstandings and misapplications among his detractors
and followers alike.
Having compared the similarities of Deweys reception at home and
abroad, let us consider whether the embedded disparities in cultural values and social practices between Dewey and his Chinese critics might also
have contributed to their criticisms. As a twentieth-century U.S. philosopher, Dewey was concerned about the meaning of democracy, the direction of social change, and the kind of education that was most appropriate for an urban, industrial society that would undergo constant changes
due to scientic and technological developments. The circumstances that
gave rise to Deweys theories differed greatly from traditional education

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john dewey in china

practices in China, which had been dominated by civil service examinations for 1,300 years. No critics in the United States, if I am not mistaken, ever commented that Deweys philosophy of education should be
merely regarded as a philosophy of elementary education. The Chinese
critics evidently missed Deweys concept of education as a continuous
process of lifelong learning and renewed experiences. As Dewey wrote
in Democracy and Education:
Normal child and normal adult . . . are engaged in growing. The
difference between them is not the difference between growth and
no growth, but between the modes of growth appropriate to different conditions. With respect to the development of powers devoted
to coping with specic scientic and economic problems we may
say the child should be growing in manhood. With respect to sympathetic curiosity, unbiased responsiveness, and openness of mind,
we may say that the adult should be growing in childlikeness. One
statement is as true as the other. (MW 9: 55)

Even though one can use Deweys words to refute quickly this Chinese
criticism as erroneous, Dewey himself would want to understand these
critics perspective before he made any judgment. If we try to conceptualize education from the Chinese perspective, we could nd that this misinterpretation resulted from differences in cultural beliefs and practices.
Chinese intellectuals tended to equate education with higher learning due to the dominance of civil service examinations in the history of
education in China. Even though the practice was abolished in 1905,
these critics were still inuenced by the traditional views of education.
In his 1922 essay, What is New Education? Chen Duxiu summarized
traditional conceptions of education as follows: it was characterized by
the system of civil service examinations and the study of moral teachings
and classics, the goal of which was for individuals to aspire to be a sage or
an exemplary person in society. New education, Chen said, was characterized by the school system and the study of sciences, the goal of which
was to transform society. Chen labeled the old approach to education as
individualistic and didactic, whereas the new approach was social
and inspirational.62 Chens comments help us understand why Chinese
critics of Dewey frequently called on ancient sages to attest to what they
deemed as loftier aims of education.63
Due to the demand of civil service examinations, discipline and effort
were regarded as quintessential educational virtues. To prepare for these
exams, the candidates were required to memorize the Four Books and
Five Classics. These texts amounted to 400,000 words in total, which alone
would take an average of six years to memorize if the candidates could

The Reception of Dewey in China

61

memorize 200 words a day, not to mention that they needed to study the
secondary literature on these canonical works.64 One story in the history
of civil service examinations may help illustrate why discipline and effort
were so highly valued. The oldest person to have obtained the highest degree was a man who had tried and failed many times in his life but nally
succeeded at age ninety-eight.65 He was not assigned a government position because of his age, but he was awarded an honorary statue. In fact,
the centuries-old belief in effort persists even today. Contemporary research on the learning gap between Asian and U.S. students has shown
that the educational success of Asian students can largely be attributed to
their belief in the role of effort in achievement, in contrast to the American emphasis on innate abilities.66
Despite their political biases or cultural misunderstandings, these
Chinese critics did point out one thing that was not in the foreground of
Deweys philosophy of education, that is, concrete references to aesthetic
experiences and spiritual values in life. Aesthetics was a subject that
Dewey did not address systematically until the 1930s. Because of this
limitation, Dewey was also challenged by his critics in the United States,
rst by Randolph Bourne in the late 1910s and later by Lewis Mumford
in 1926. In Twilight of Idols, Bourne said that although Dewey always
meant his philosophy, when taken as a philosophy of life, to start with
values. But there was always that unhappy ambiguity in his doctrine
as to just how values were created. Without the vividest kind of poetic vision, Deweys instrumentalism made it easy to assume that just
any growth was justied and almost any activity valuable so long as it
achieved ends.67
Following Bournes line of argument, Mumford accused Dewey of
having little to say about art, and when he did consider it, he failed to
see anything other than its instrumental value and consequently missed
its essence. He did not realize that inventions and ne arts were different. Mumford challenged Deweys pragmatic acquiescence to the
dominance in American culture of the utilitarian type of personality. Interestingly, the criticism Dewey received from his Chinese criticsthat
he focused too much on the external environment while neglecting the
power for internal transcendenceseemed to correspond with Mumfords comment when he argued that man need not accommodate himself pragmatically to external circumstance, for he had the capacity to act
creatively, as an artist, to shape the aims and necessities of his world.68
Dewey later developed the notion of consummatory, aesthetic experience perhaps as a response to his critics in the United States. He may
also have been motivated by a personal desire, as he told Sidney Hook,
to get into a eld I havent treated systematically. Deweys critics in
China and the United States both pointed to an area of Deweys thinking

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that required more elaboration if, to use Westbrooks words, the other
Dewey reaching out to wider sources of experience was to be more apparent to his readers. Indeed, Dewey needed to say more about lifes
consummations if he was ever to escape the charge that his was a philosophy that left its readers all dressed up with no place to go.69

Reconsidering The Dewey Experiment

One additional point about Deweys reception and his role in China is
worth noting. Even though Chinese intellectuals seemed to have easy access to the articles Dewey wrote about China for readers in the United
States, only two of them had ever been translated into Chinese and made
available to the public. One was Deweys essay on New Culture in
China, printed in the Morning Postapparently by someone from the
liberal camp, although the name of the translator was not reported.70 In
this essay, Dewey started by describing the positive aspects of the New
Culture movement, saying that it was governed by the belief that the
real supremacy of the West is based, not on anything specically Western,
to be borrowed and imitated, but on something universal, a method of
investigation and of the testing of knowledge (MW 13: 110). However,
toward the end of the article he stated, Chinese educated youth cannot
permanently forswear their interest in direct political action, and their
attention needs to be devoted more than it has been detailed, to practical
economic questions, to currency reform, public nance and problems of
taxation, to foreign loans and the Consortium (MW 13: 119). Importantly,
we should note that this article was not translated in its entirety. Only the
rst half of the article, which contained favorable comments about the
movement, was translated and published in the newspaper on four consecutive days. The translator stopped short of translating the other half,
which contained Deweys critical comment I just quoted.
The other Dewey article translated into Chinese was on Chinese philosophy of life, printed in a journal that promoted Chinese culture and
literature.71 In this article, As the Chinese Think, Dewey expressed admiration for traditional Chinese culture. He wrote, industrialism as it
exists in the western world is a menace to what is deepest and best in
Chinese culture, and the Chinese philosophy of life embodies a profoundly valuable contribution to human culture and one of which a hurried, impatient, over-busied and anxious West is innitely in need (MW
13: 223). The reason why only these two articles were selected seems
clear: they could be used to support an intellectual movementthe New
Culture movement and neotraditionalism respectively.
With these, I would like to return to the assumption about the Dewey
experiment in China. The phrase was used to depict a phenomenon in

The Reception of Dewey in China

63

which Deweys Chinese disciples experimented with his ideas to see

if they would work in the Chinese context. However, this experiment
seemed to have somehow extended beyond Deweys disciples to encompass a wide array of individuals and groups who used Dewey to validate
their own thoughts. They experimented with Dewey in light of their own
conicting desires. They shared many things in common: frustration with
political corruption, fear of national extinction, and hope for a new social
order. Most important, they all seemed to face an internal contradiction
between staying Chinese and becoming modernand Western. However, they disagreed among themselves with regard to which road would
lead China to freedom and authenticity. The conicting views and images
of Dewey as we have seen in the previous discussion were the result of
these contending ideologies and emotions.
Against the backdrop of the chaotic May Fourth China, one thing
seems clear: Dewey meant different things to different peopledepending on what purposes their particular versions of Dewey served and
what part of Deweys thoughts they could use to support certain claims.
For instance, Hu Shihs Dewey was one who emphasized the scientic
method and insisted on a nonpolitical, gradualist approach to reform.
Chen Duxius Dewey was one who acknowledged the importance of
socioeconomic democracy over political democracy. Liang Shumings
Dewey was one who advocated the merger of Eastern and Western cultures to create a new world culture. In the eyes of the students, Dewey
was one who inspired their protest against examinations. In the eyes of
the ofcials, Dewey was a bad inuence on students. Indeed, Dewey and
his theories were used differently by different people. In one sense, we
may accept the assumption about the Dewey experiment, although
granted, Dewey himself was being experimented on. In another sense,
we may also argue that there was, indeed, a Dewey experiment going
on in Chinaone that Dewey himself was conducting. He was testing
whether Western conceptions about Chinese politics, social psychology,
and cultural beliefs reected Chinese realities or Western prejudices. He
was determined to present Chinese ways of life and habits of mind from
their own perspectives, hoping thus to nd some way of cooperation for
common ends between the East and the West (MW 13: 218). With this, let
us turn to the next chapter on Dewey as a learner in China.

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chapter 4

DEWEY AS A LEARNER

Many know that Dewey went to China to teach, but few know that he went
also because he wanted to learn. Dewey taught the Chinese a lot about
the West and learned a great deal about China. He originally intended to
stay a few months. Nonetheless, he kept his heart open and his mind alert
while allowing the ow of history to take him wherever he could teach
and learn. Before he embarked on his journey, Dewey knew little about
China. Even though he may have had some exposure to Chinese culture
through his Chinese students at Columbia University, it was not enough to
prepare him to be a China expert. Most of Deweys writings about China
are the result of his own observations, assisted by his conversations with
various peoplehis own students and translators, travel guides, missionary friends, academic acquaintances, and institutional hostsand, most
important, by his own study of Chinese history.
However, those who have read The Dewey Experiment in China may
have the impression that Dewey often parroted the views of Hu Shih in
his own writings about China. Keenan asserts, Dewey was a good student in reporting what they [his disciples] said.1 Because Dewey did
not know the language, we could easily assume that he could not form
his own judgments. In fact, Deweys own independent thinking will be
all the more apparent when we consider how his views about the May
Fourth movement differed from those of Hu Shih. In his long sojourn,
Dewey learned about the Chinese social psychology and philosophy of
life. At the same time, he also came to understand the West and to question its Eurocentric worldviews. This chapter weaves a new theme into
the old tale about Deweys visit to China, namely, his own education. The
following discusses Deweys learning experiences from the perspectives
65

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john dewey in china

of his role as a political commentator, a goodwill ambassador, and a cultural anthropologist, concluding with the meaning of Deweys trip in the
larger context of his life and work.

Dewey as a Political Commentator

As noted, Dewey arrived in China three days before the outbreak of the
May Fourth movement. His timely presence provided a great opportunity for his own learning, giving him a vantage point to witness the unfolding of the event. It also put him in a unique position to serve as a
political commentator for the New Republic.
Let me recount the event briey. On May 4, 1919, 3,000 students in
Beijing held a mass demonstration against Japanese imperialism and domestic political corruption. In big cities, general strikes supporting the
students ensued along with large-scale boycotts against Japanese goods.
This series of events following the student demonstration led Dewey to
remark, Talk about the secretive and wily East. Compared, say, with
Europe, they hand information out to you on a platter . . . and sandbag
you with it.2 Impressed by the outpouring of public support for these
student-initiated activities, he wrote to his children, To think of kids in
our country from fourteen on, taking the lead in starting a big cleanup
reform politics movement and shaming merchants and professional men
into joining them. This is sure some country.3 In The Student Revolt in
China, Dewey interpreted the event for his U.S. readers saying, The
possibilities of organization independent of government, but capable in
the end of controlling government, have been demonstrated. Dewey felt
so hopeful that he even predicted, It would be highly surprising if a new
constitutionalist movement were not set going. The combination of students and merchants that has proved so effective will hardly be allowed
to become a mere memory (MW 11: 190). To Dewey, these events embodied the power of public opinion. As he later indicated, the most impressive single feature of my stay in China was witnessing the sure and
rapid growth of an enlightened and progressive public opinion (MW 13:
147). This experience was reassuring to Dewey because he had always
believed that public opinion as a moral and intellectual force should and
would triumph over the forces of coercion and violence.
Such an eye-opening experience was not unprecedented for Dewey.
Earlier in his life when Dewey was moving from rural Michigan to Chicago in 1894, he found himself in the midst of the Pullman Strike.4 He
was so excited about the scene that he wrote to his wife, Alice, Every
conceivable thing solicits you; the town seems lled with problems holding out their hands and asking somebody to solve themor else dump
them in the lake. I had no conception that things could be so much more

Dewey as a Learner

67

phenomenal and objective than they are in a country village, and simply stick themselves at you, instead of leaving you to think about them.5
The strike and chaos Dewey witnessed in Chicago uplifted rather than
dampened his spirit. He understood them as a necessary condition for
realizing industrial democracy. The burning of a few freight cars was a
cheap price to pay . . . to get the social organism thinking. However, the
hostility of higher class intellectuals toward the lower class workers was so hopeless and discouraging to him that he remarked, Professional people are probably worse than the capitalists themselves.6
Despite the strikes eventual defeat by the governments armed forces,
Dewey believed that it succeeded in stirring public attention and discussion. As Westbrook points out, Dewey was prone throughout his life to
such hopeful predictions of the unintended consequences of the defeat of
democratic reform, and such efforts at prophesy are a telling index to
his own political desires. Westbrook is also right when he says, Deweys record as a prophet was undistinguished.7 Nonetheless, one can still
nd insight in a prophecy that was not fullled.
Some interesting similarities between the Pullman Strike and the
Chinese student demonstration are worth noting. They bring Deweys
political activism and radical impulses into fresher relief. Dewey was
as sympathetic to the workers as he was to the students. His Chicago
colleagues disapproval of the strike correlated with Hu Shihs negative
opinion about the student revolt. Hu insisted that the students should
devote themselves to their studies rather than to politics; Dewey, on the
contrary, endorsed the students revolt as a gesture of righteous indignation.8 He interpreted their voluntary action as embodying the awakening of China from a state of passive waiting (MW 11: 187) and as showing what educated China can do, and will do, in the future (MW 11:
191). Dewey was glad for young China because it now realized, or so it
seemed to him, that it did not need to be saved from without. Nonetheless, Dewey knew that merely resorting to protests and rebellions would
not bring about constructive change. He concluded with this hypothetical
remark, If the present organization persists and is patiently employed
for constructive purposes, then the fourth of May, nineteen hundred and
nineteen, will be marked as the dawn of a new day. This is a large if. But
just now the future of China so far as it depends upon China hangs on
that If (MW 11: 191).
Six months later, Deweys hope that the impact of the student movement would effect signicant political change had been disappointed.
Dewey and Alice seemed to have anticipated that the movement would
lead to political revolution.9 However, it did not accomplish much other
than preventing Chinas signing of the Versailles peace treaty. In The Sequel of the Student Revolt, Dewey said retrospectively that the relative

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political failure was due to the youth and inexperience of the students,
the fear of excess, the difculty in maintaining continuous organized
cooperation with the mercantile guilds, and the natural waning of enthusiasm when [the] crisis was past (MW 12: 23). However, it was a mistake, as Dewey reminded, to think that the movement proved to be of no
avail. The signicance of the movement lay in its intellectual implications.
It was the manifestation of a new consciousness, an intellectual awakening in the young men and young women who through their schooling
had been aroused to the necessity of a new order of belief, a new method
of thinking (MW 12: 27). The students believed that the new method of
thinking should be imported from the West, as they began to realize that
the the power of the West resided not in its battleships but in its ideas.
The raising of a new intellectual awareness, often identied as the
New Culture movement, was greatly facilitated by the explosion of the
publishing industry, where discussion of social questions was predominant. In the new press, all kinds of Western social and political theories
were translated and discussed, including anarchism, liberalism, socialism, Marxism, and of course, Deweys own pragmatism. In the intellectual marketplace of ideas, any goods would be favored as long as they
had Western packaging. Even though Dewey questioned the students
interest in Marxism, he acknowledged their overall intellectual enthusiasm and said, in a country where belief has been both authoritatively
dogmatic and complacent, the rage for questioning is the omen of a new
epoch. Nonetheless, Dewey was aware that their apparent zeal for Western learning did not reect a pure interest in the ideas themselves, but
rather a desire for such knowledge of them as will facilitate discussion
and criticism of typical Chinese creeds and institutions (MW 12: 26).
In New Culture in China, Dewey explicitly said that the New Culture movement, with its exclusive attempt at cultural reform, was in
its deeper aspect a protest against all politicians and against all further
reliance upon politics as a direct means of social reform. He said, this
anti-political bias was being rmly established and becoming more
and more characteristically Chinese. As he noted, the belief that reform
is conditional upon scientic and social changes, is in a way a return to
Chinese modes of thinking, a recovery of an old Chinese idea, plus an assertion that the power of that idea was not exhausted and terminated by
Confucianism (MW 13: 11011). Another feature that characterized May
Fourth China, apart from the belief that reform in culture was an antecedent of other reforms, was a rising demand for Chinese leadership due to
nationalistic feelings.
However, he noticed a contradiction in the call for Chinese leadership and the rejection of Chinas Confucian past. Dewey asked, How
can reversion to Chinese leadership coincide with attack upon Chinese

Dewey as a Learner

69

customs and habits of mind? How can it coincide with a realization that
the real source of Western superiority is found, not in external technique,
but in intellectual and moral matters? (MW 13: 111). May Fourth China
was, indeed, marked by contradictory aspirations. Dewey commented,
history is never logical, and many movements are practically effectual in
proportion to their logical inconsistency. Nonetheless, he had no doubt
that the idea of the supremacy of intellectual and moral factors over all
others is itself a native Chinese idea (MW 13: 114). Even though Dewey
recognized the importance of cultural reform, he had doubts about such
a single-minded approach. Unlike these Chinese intellectuals, Dewey did
not establish an arbitrary dualism between cultural and political reform.
The pragmatic Dewey knew that constructive social change depends on
practical and political means.
Even though Dewey acknowledged the importance of Western learning, he sensed a more pressing need for China to develop her industry.
His extensive travels to eleven provinces allowed him to encounter the
lives of the masses rsthand, and he was convinced that Chinas poverty
and industrial backwardness should be a top priority. In light of the history of democratic development in the West, Dewey believed that peoples thinking would change along with the changes in their daily lives.
Dewey thought that Chinese intellectuals were too preoccupied with
absorbing new thoughts and new theories to accomplish any effective
political or practical change. As Dewey observed, they have no material to work upon even [if] they wanted to start a practical movement
and are still too theoretical to engage successfully in practical movements.10 According to Alice, Dewey had attempted to guide the young
intellectuals toward more practical paths. In one of his lectures in southern China, he told them, it was not theories [about socialism] and free
thought and free [love] that China needed, it was teaching the people
how to improve agriculture and cotton and silk and more especially their
own lives. In the same letter to their family, Alice revealed that the students complained that Deweys lectures were not intellectual enough.
Think how China has [changed] Pa was her reaction to this criticism.11
Perhaps China had made Dewey less intellectual because the Chinese
equated the intellectual with pursuing book knowledge rather than
solving practical problems.
Deweys dream for a true political revolution following the May
Fourth student demonstration did not materialize. However, one still
nds great insights in Deweys writings about China, despite his unfullled prophecies.12 For instance, Dewey understood that the salvation of
China depended not so much on the few intellectuals in the cities as on
the ordinary men and women throughout China. As Dewey evaluated
the New Culture movement led by his Chinese disciples, he said:

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john dewey in china

There are hours when, stimulated by contact with what is best in the
movement, I am willing to predict that it will succeed and, in succeeding with its own problems, will also give to the world things of
new and permanent value. There are other times, when, after contact
with the darker features of the situation, I wonder that the supporters
of the cause do not all lose hope and pessimistically surrender. It is
easy to see why some give up effort and devote themselves to making
the best of a bad situation by feathering their own nests. At the end,
one comes back to the sobriety, the industry, the fundamental solidity
of the average common man. These qualities have weathered many
previous storms. They will pull China through this one if they are
redirected according to the demands and conditions of that modern
world that has thrust itself so irresistibly and so disturbingly upon
China. The [N]ew [C]ulture movement is a signicant phase of the
attempt to supply the direction so profoundly needed. (MW 13: 120)

Deweys expectations for his disciples were not realized, but he was insightful in placing his ultimate hope on the average common man. History shows that in the end the masses pulled China through its troubles.
Unfortunately, his disciple Hu and his group of culture reformers did not
succeed in supplying the needed direction because their elitist tendencies ultimately isolated them from the masses. The radical and politically
minded Marxists knew how to mobilize the masses and to awaken them
from their long slumber.

Dewey as a Goodwill Ambassador

Although Deweys stay in China was a rare opportunity for him to gain
an insider perspective on the conditions of the Far East, it also entailed a
moral responsibility. His Chinese audiences sometimes asked Dewey during his lectures to respond to the Versailles Peace Conference. The most
frequently asked question, as Dewey put it, amounted to this: Since the
decision of the peace conference shows that between nations might still
makes right, that the strong nation gets its own way against a weak nation, is it not necessary for China to take steps to develop military power,
and for this purpose should not military training be made a regular part
of its educational system? (MW 11: 180). Whether Dewey provided a satisfying answer to this difcult question is not known; however, he heard
these concerns and took them seriously. Throughout the course of Deweys writing about China, one senses Deweys ongoing concern about the
role of the United States in the Far East. Like his views on the May Fourth
movement, Deweys suggestions for U.S. diplomacy in China also underwent signicant changes.

Dewey as a Learner

71

Early in his stay, Dewey noted a pro-American sentiment, especially

prevailing in the intellectual circles of China. In the eyes of many Chinese,
Japan was the despoiler, whereas the United States was the rescuer. Resentment toward Japan had contributed to a pathetic affection for America.
As Dewey stated in The International Duel in China, China in her despair has created an image of a powerful democratic, peace-loving America, devoted to securing international right and justice, especially for weak
nations. He insisted that Chinas idealization of the United States should
impose humility rather than self-glorication upon Americans (MW 11:
196). Even though he applauded the American inuence in the educational line, he cautioned that this success is not of a kind to be impressive
when it comes to determination of international affairs (MW 11: 231).
The key to peace in the Far East, Dewey claimed, lay in the relationship between Japan and the United States. In his own writings, Dewey
tried to inuence U.S. policy toward China by attacking Japanese propaganda. He urged U.S. politicians not to be bought off by Japan or be taken
in by their liberal posturing. He wrote:
Americans may sometimes wonder in a perplexed way about the
contrary reports and views of travelers in the Far East and conclude
that the latter become pro- or anti-Japanese for temperamental or accidental reasons. Here is the explanation. Those who have not gone
further than Japan realize Japan as a fact; the continent is still a place
on the map, an impersonal factor in an intellectual calculation. Those
who with eyes and ears half-open have stayed upon the continent
realize the condition which has been created by Japanese [propagandist] methods. (MW 13: 8182)

Before Dewey went to the Far East, he had little idea of Japans actual
intention to colonize China, hidden within its eager pursuit of economic
interests. Immediately on his departure from Japan and arrival in China,
he sensed the signicance of differences perceived in the two countries.
After learning more about the status of Japan in international politics
and its predatory attitude toward China, Dewey perceived the seed of
a future war being deeply planted in China. He cautioned U.S. readers, every appeal to American sympathy on the ground of the growing
liberalism of Japan should meet with neither credulity nor cynicism, but
with a request to know what this liberalism is doing, especially what it
is doing about China and Siberia (MW 13: 84). When commenting on
the greed of Japanese businessmen and the aggression of Japanese militarists, Dewey said, it is no pleasure for one with many warm friends
in Japan, who has a great admiration for the Japanese people as distinct
from the ruling military and bureaucratic class, to report such facts

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john dewey in china

(MW 12: 33). Despite this caveat, Dewey knew that he needed expose
these facts to enlighten public opinion.
Apart from informing U.S. readers of the reality of Japanese imperialism, Dewey also gave suggestions concerning what the United States
should do to help China overcome its current crisis and to embark on the
path of normal development. In his earlier writings, Dewey asked the
United States to sympathetically comprehend the Chinese situation, to
be patient and persistent in its foreign policies (MW 11: 22627), and to
realize the enormous power which is now in her hands (MW 11: 198).
Dewey advised that the U.S. government assist China in important practical tasks such as improving agriculture, constructing railways and inland
waterway systems, and regulating currency systems. He hoped that such
potential on the part of the United States would not be thrown away by
reason of stupidity and ignorance (MW 11: 198). To ensure that China be
made the mistress of her own economic destinies, Dewey stressed that
these large-scale tasks should be performed by enlisting the cooperation
of Chinese voluntaryism and that U.S.-trained Chinese students should
administer the implementation of these plans (MW 11: 243). Dewey was
certain that when these tasks were accomplished, China should be able to
take care of itself politically.
Because Dewey knew that the masses of Chinese people were relying
on the United States for their redemption, he found the policy of no foreign entanglements deplorable. He traced the root of the United States
national egotism to the fear that engagement with the undemocratic world
would threaten its internal democracy (MW 12: 5). In an unusually scathing tone, he remarked, the contrast between prior professions and actual
deeds was so obvious as to evoke revulsion (MW 12: 3). Deweys sense
of obligation as a close witness of Chinas predicaments and his deep convictions about the interconnectedness of international affairs propelled
him initially to espouse an activist, paternalistic approach toward China.
However, as his understanding of Chinese history, culture, and psychology deepened, his initial activism mellowed. In his response to whether
the United States should join the alliance with Great Britain to resolve the
crisis in the Far East, Dewey said, There is an obligation upon us not to
engage too much or too readily with them until there is assurance that we
shall not make ourselves worse (MW 12: 7). Experience had taught him
much about the dark realities of international politics: professed ideals
for democracy and peace could turn out to serve imperialistic ends.
The shift in Deweys thinking was most evident in an article written
shortly after his return as a response to the upcoming Pacic Conference
in Washington. In Federalism in China, Dewey advised against exogenous intervention in Chinas domestic affairs and suggested instead
a hands-off policy:

Dewey as a Learner

73

The hope of the worlds peace, as well as Chinas freedom, lies in

adhering to a policy of Hands Off. Give China a chance. Give her
time. The danger lies in being in a hurry, in impatience, possibly in
the desire of Americans to show that we are a power in international
affairs and that we too have a positive foreign policy. And a benevolent policy from without, instead of promoting her aspirations from
within, may in the end do China about as much harm as a policy
conceived in malevolence. (MW 13: 155)

Deweys earlier paternalistic impulses gave way to a deep respect for

the self-determination and self-government of the Chinese people. His
earlier enthusiasm gave way to a healthy skepticism that kept him suspicious of any proposal to place China under international tutelage.
Importantly, we should note that Deweys proposal for a hands-off
policy not be labeled as isolationist because nonintervention did
not mean noncommunication or noninteraction. Allan Ryans comment
that Dewey took up the isolationist and Outlawry of War banner after
he returned to the United States did not do justice to Dewey.13 Deweys
noninterventionist approach was the result not of cold indifference, but
of a profound respect for Chinas capacity for self-governance. Dewey
realized that China will not be saved from outside herself because she
is used to taking time for her problems: she can neither understand
nor prot by the impatient methods of the western world which are
profoundly alien to her genius. Transformation from within was the
only hope, and the United States could best help China by making sure
that she gets the time she needs in order to effect this transformation,
whether or not we like [the] particular form it assumes at any particular
time (MW 13: 171). Treating China like a sick patient rather than an active living force would only weaken her and paralyze her (MW 13: 182).
Even though a policy of nonintervention may not seem benevolent, he
said, I do not believe that any nation at present is wise enough or good
enough to act upon the assumption of altruism and benevolence toward
other nations (MW 15: 187).
In America and the Far East, written a few years after his return,
Dewey reiterated his opposition to the paternal attitude of the United
States in its interaction with China, particularly in light of the increasing
resentment toward missionary efforts in China. He wrote:
We have gone there with ideas and ideals, with sentiments and aspirations; we have presented a certain type of culture to China as a
model to be imitated. As far as we have gone at all, we have gone in
loco parentis, with advice, with instruction, with example and and
precept. Like a good parent we would have brought up China in the

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john dewey in china

way in which she should go. There is a genial and generous aspect to
all this. But nonetheless it has created a situation, and that situation is
fraught with danger. (LW 2: 174)

The danger lay in the resentment on the part of the Chinese toward the
the air of superiority foreign guardians, such as American missionaries,
assumed and in the consequent charges on the part of the foreign helpers
that the Chinese were ungrateful. Dewey urged the United States to alter
its traditional parental attitude, colored as it has been by a temper of
patronage, conscious or unconscious, into one of respect and esteem for
a cultural equal (LW 2:175). Throughout the course of his stay in China
and the immediate years following his return to the United States, Dewey
devoted much thinking to nding out what America should, or should
not, do to contribute to peace and prosperity in that region. Without a
doubt, Deweys views underwent signicant, if not dramatic, changes. To
understand and appreciate Deweys growing sensitivity, openness, and
farsightedness as reected in his nal proposal for a hands-off policy in
China, we need to examine closely the process by which Dewey learned
to understand and respect China on its own terms.

Dewey as a Cultural Anthropologist

One major purpose of Deweys trip to the Far East was to get some acquaintance with what was happening on the other side of the world. Soon
after he arrived, he became interested in more than collecting exotic stories
that might impress his grandchildren. His mind was set on an intelligent inquiry into Chinas predicaments, and his heart, on the destiny of its people.
Obviously, understanding an old civilization and the causes of its current
crises was not an easy task. As Dewey admitted to a close friend, [Its] an
absurdly pretentious performance in one way, with my short stay here and
no knowledge of the language to write on the general political and social
psychology of the Chinese as affecting the [present] situation. However,
Dewey thought, it will be just as good as most of the stuff travelers put out
[for] the American reader, and a little better than some for it will give some
attempt at interpretation from the Chinese [viewpoint].14
As a reective thinker, Dewey soon realized that grave misunderstandings characterized the history of contact between the West and
China. The reason was that many of the political and economic conceptions of the Western world did not apply to Chinese situations. In other
words, Dewey was realizing that a non-Eurocentric point of viewa concept alien to Deweys time but quite in keeping with his pragmatic sensibilitywas key to an accurate and sympathetic understanding of China.
Dewey summarized this unusual cultural experience to a former student

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75

of philosophy: This is really the other side of the world in every sense,
and it [is] most interesting to see a culture where so many of our prepossessions are reversed. It has a tendency to make academic affairs including
[academic] philosophy shrink. [Its] a good thing we [cant] [visit] the rest
of the universe in space; our [own] habits and beliefs would shrink too
much.15 On another occasion, Dewey wrote, The visitor spends his time
learning, if he learns anything about China, not to think of what he sees
in terms of the ideas he uses as a matter of course at home. For Dewey,
the need to cultivate a culturally sensitive perspective is what gave China
its overpowering intellectual interest for an observer of the affairs of
humanity (MW 13: 75). Given that the Western worldview in the early
twentieth century was predominantly Eurocentric, one nds remarkable
intellectual farsightedness and open-mindedness in Deweys reections
on the problem of Eurocentrism. A tyro in Chinese history, Dewey inevitably made a few mistakes in his judgments about current events, but he
was quick to correct them and continued to learn along the way.
One of Deweys misjudgments pertains to his overzealous attitude
toward the student movement, which was largely grounded in his own
political desires. As mentioned earlier, Dewey was fascinated by the
power of public opinion and grassroots activism demonstrated in the
student movement. His spontaneous enthusiasm kept him, as he put it,
always on the alert to see what is coming next, despite the attempt to
repress ones desire for a [little] more [direct] western energy to tackle
things before they get to the toppling over point.16 However, everything
seemed to have returned to normalcy after a few weeks of heated agitation, leaving Deweys high hopes for signicant change unfullled. The
disappointed Dewey sometimes found the ingrained passivity of the Chinese people bafing. As Dewey wrote to his children one month after
the outbreak of the student demonstration: Status quo is Chinas middle
name, most status and a little quo. I have one more motto to add to You
Never Can Tell and Let George Do It. It is, That is very bad. Instead of
concealing things, they expose all their weak and bad points very freely,
and after setting them forth most calmly and objectively, say That is very
bad.17 Dewey observed that the Chinese talk more easily than they
actespecially in politics, and they love nding substitutes for positive action, of avoiding entering upon a course of action which might be
irrevocable (MW 11: 17576). Dewey later came to realize that China
has never been anything but apathetic towards governmental questions.
The student revolt marked a temporary exception only in appearance
(MW 12: 24). Implying his own error, Dewey wrote, The new comer [sic]
in China in observing and judging usually makes the mistake of attaching too much signicance to current happenings (MW 13: 149). He even
remarked in a tongue-in-cheek manner, After a few months in China, a

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visitor will take an oath, if he is wise, never to indulge in prediction (MW

13: 120). Refraining from making predictions may be easy for others but
difcult for Dewey, whose lifelong project is to intelligize practice by
anticipating consequences and applying foresight.18 Dewey still allowed
himself to make a few more predictions in his later articles on China, but
a few more in Deweys eyes probably would not count as indulgence.
On one occasion, Dewey posed the question, Is it possible for a Westerner to understand Chinese political psychology? He quickly answered,
certainly not without a prior knowledge of the historic customs and institutions of China, for institutions have shaped the mental habits, not the
mind the social habits (MW 13: 215). As a committed and diligent learner
about China, Dewey read Chinese history; he also read local English
newspapers to keep abreast of the latest political developments; he shared
and exchanged views with local foreigners; and he even took Chinese language lessons from a tutor. Dewey could have made the same comment as
his wife when she said, Since reading of their history I can see why they
have always been in a state much like this.19 Deweys exposure to Chinese
history, coupled with his own observations, led him to remark: China can
be understood only in terms of the institutions and ideas which have been
worked out in its own historical evolution (MW 11: 216).
To be more specic, Chinese politics has to be understood in terms of
itself, not translated over into the classication of an alien political morphology (MW 11: 211). According to Dewey, Westerners who pigeonholed Chinese facts into Western conceptions misconstrued China as a
nation with a single centralized government in full operation. Dewey argued that China was not a nation, but at best, a nation-to-be. In his view,
China was more like older Europe than contemporary France. Patriotism,
Dewey observed, took a special form in China. It was not allegiance to
a political state but an attachment to soil and birthplace. The Western
conception of the nation-state could not be universalized across cultures.
Moreover, Western economic terms do not t the Chinese context. He
said, When we turn from political to economic affairs, our habitual western ideas are even less applicable. Their irrelevancy makes it impossible
intelligently to describe the Chinese conditions or even grasp them intelligently. The most salient fact was that there is no bourgeoisie in China.
Dewey asked, How is a class of peasant proprietors who form not merely
the vast mass of a people but its economic and moral backbone, who traditionally and in present esteem [constitute] the respectable part of the
population, next to the scholars, to be classied under western notions?
(MW 13: 75). Dewey insisted that China was politically and economically
a different world and should be understood and treated as such.
Not only is China a politically and economically different world, but
it is socially different as well. An example of Deweys penetrating insights

Dewey as a Learner

77

into Chinese social psychology is his analysis of Chinese peoples crowd

psychology that contributed to their conservatism and passivity. As
Dewey observed in What Holds China Back?:
It is beyond question that many traits of the Chinese mind are
the products of an extraordinary and long-continued density of
populations. Psychologists have discovered, or possibly invented,
a psychology of the crowd to account for the way men act in
masses, as a mob at a lynching bee. They have not inquired as to
the effect upon the mind of constant living in close contact with
large numbers, of continual living in a crowd. Years ago an enthusiastic American teacher of the Chinese in Honolulu told me that
when the Chinese acquired Anglo-Saxon initiative they would be
the greatest people in the world. I wonder whether even the Anglo-Saxons would have developed or retained initiative if they had
lived for centuries under conditions that gave them no room to stir
about, no relief from the unremitting surveillance of their fellows?
Possibly they would then have acquired a habit of thinking of their
face before they thought of the thing to be done. Perhaps when
they thought of a new thing they would have decided discretion
and hesitation to be the better part of invention. If solitude or loneliness exists in China it is only among the monks who have retired
into the mountain fastnesses; and until I have ocular evidence to
the contrary I shall believe that even monks in China are sociable,
agglutinative beings. (MW 12: 53)

Deweys sympathetic rendering of the Chinese face-loving habit is unprecedented. He said, When people live close together and cannot get
away from one another, appearances, that is to say the impression made
upon others, become as important as the realities, if not more so (MW
12: 58). As he continued, Until the recent introduction of rapid transportation, very few Chinese ever enjoyed even the possibility of solitude
that comes from being in a crowd of strangers. Imagine all elbow-room
done away with, imagine millions of men living day by day, year by year,
in the presence of the same persons (a very close presence at that), and
new light may be shed upon the conservatism of the Chinese people.
Dewey also told his U.S. readers, Live and let live is the response to
crowded conditions, and Not to rock the boat is wisdom the world
over (MW 12: 55). If things are going well, then trying to make them better is pointless. If things are worse, enduring them is easier than seeking
solutions and risking making things worse.
Dewey described vividly how such mental habits were played out in
the process of attempts at reform. He wrote:

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john dewey in china

The reformer does not even meet sharp, clear-cut resistance. If he

did, he might be stimulated to further effort. He simply is smothered.
Stalling has become a ne art. At a recent national educational conference a returned student holding an ofcial position moved that the
public middle schools (corresponding to our high schools) be made
co-educational. He was inspired by sound consideration. China suffers from [a] lack of educated women. Funds are short. The effective
thing is to admit girls to the schools already existing. But the proposition was a radical innovation. Yet it was not opposed. A resolution
in favor was duly passed. But at the same time it was made subtly
understood that this was done out of courtesy to the mover, and that
no steps to carry the resolution into effect need be expected. This is
the fate of many proposed social reforms. They are not fought, they
are only swallowed. China does not stagnate, it absorbs. It takes up
all the slack till there is no rope left with which to pull. (MW 12: 55)

This was the frustrating reality of many reforms in China. Deweys

deepened understanding of the Chinese social and political psychology
is the result of a long, searching process lled with high moments as well
as low ones.
In one article, Dewey analyzed the three mental stages that a visitor
in China was most likely to experience. The rst stage was characterized by impatience with irregularities, incompetence and corruptions,
and a demand for immediate sweeping reforms (MW 12: 48). Deweys
disappointment was evident when he wrote, As with the drama of the
Chinese stage, the main story is apparently lost in a mass of changing
incidents and excitements that lack movement, climax and plot (MW 11:
204). When he found that many students returning from the United States
could not nd better jobs other than teaching English, he asked, How
they can tolerate such corrupt, cruel and inefcient ofcials and govt,
and have themselves so much intelligence, skill and real administrative
power I give up [sic]. Militarism is bad enough but a pacist militarism
beats anything the world has seen. Non [resistants] ought to take a trip to
China to be cured.20
The second stage is characterized by an understanding that Chinas
enduring history and long-standing tradition had shaped its current conditions. Dewey commented, The foreign interpreter comes to the scene
with a mind adapted to the quick tempo of the West. He expects to see
a drama unfold after the pattern of the movie. He is not used to history
enacted on the scale of that of China (MW 11: 205). Dewey elaborated,
Longer stay convinces him of the deep roots of many of the objectionable things, and gives him a new lesson in the meaning of the words evolution and development (MW 12: 48). However, according to Dewey,

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79

many foreigners who had stayed in China for a long time remained complacent in this stage and did not support any attempts to modernize the
country. Disheartened by current social chaos, these foreigners clung to
the good old days allegiance to tradition guaranteed. They opposed all
reforms, including the spread of popular education and the emancipation
of women. In the third stage, the visitor emerges where he no longer
expects immediate sweeping changes, nor carps at the evils of the present in comparison with an idealized picture of the traditional past, but
feels that while now the endeavors for a new life are scattered, yet they
are so numerous and so genuine that in time they will accumulate and
coalesce (MW 12: 49).
Throughout his stay, Dewey oscillated between hope and frustration.
History may be ransacked to furnish a situation that so stirs interest,
that keeps a spectator so wavering between hope and fear, that presents
so bafing a face to every attempt to nd a solution (MW 13: 95). In his
low moments, he felt, China remains a massive blank and impenetrable
wall, and Chinese civilization is so thick and [self-centered] that no
foreign inuence presented via a foreigner even scratches the surface.21
At one point, Dewey felt so pessimistic about the situation that he revealed to his close friend Albert Barnes, The western world is rotten, but
it is distinctively in advance of China.22 However, when Barnes asked
whether Dewey really meant what he said, Dewey did not pursue this
subject further.23 Apparently, the comment is an expression of frustration,
not a seriously considered judgment.
At other moments, Dewey felt that he had a better understanding of
Chinas problems. He noted that Chinas political chaos was the result of
pure ignorance. As he explained, One realizes how the delicate and multifarious business of the modern state is dependent upon knowledge and
habits of mind that have grown up slowly and that are now counted upon
as a matter of course (MW 12: 49). Toward the end of his stay, Dewey
said that he would like to stay another year to see what happens, but he
knew that there would still be the waiting to see something denite happen.24 In spite of all the difculties, obscurities, and uncertainties, Dewey
remained concerned and sympathetic. He continued to write about China
for years after his departure. One article Dewey wrote after he returned to
the United States deserves special attention because it contains the conclusions about his inquiry and his education in China. Dewey may not have
been a great prophet in a world that was constantly changing, a world that
operated under habits of mind often contrary to his own. His perseverance in learning led him to the ultimate understanding that China was
not only a politically, economically, and socially different world, but also,
more important, a philosophically different world, a world that could be
understood only in its own philosophical terms.

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The article under discussion, As the Chinese Think, was rst published in Asia in January 1922 and later republished in Characters and
Events in 1929 with the title, The Chinese Philosophy of Life. Dewey
began by stating that people in different regions of the world have different philosophies ingrained in their habits, and an attempt at an honest understanding of one anothers philosophy of life was crucial to
eliminating international disputes that often resulted from deep-seated
misunderstandings. He then repeated the many questions that constantly
bafed him during his stay in China. Dewey asked, Why are the Chinese
so unperturbed by circumstances that appear to a foreigner to menace
their country with national extinction? . . . Is their attitude one of callous
indifference, of stupid ignorance? Or is it a sign of faith in deep-seated
realities that western peoples neglect in their hurry to get results? He
wondered, Why hasnt China taken the lead in developing her own resources? . . . Is her course stupid inertia, a dull, obstinate clinging to the
old just because it is old? Or does it show something more profound, a
wise, even if largely unconscious, aversion to admitting forces that are
hostile to the whole spirit of her civilization? After a long and deep
grappling with these questions, Dewey considered the possible explanation that industrialism as it exists in the western world is a menace to
what is deepest and best in Chinese culture, adding, Only those who
are completely satised with the workings of the present capitalistic system can dogmatically deny this possibility (MW 13: 22021).
After Dewey pointed out the hypothesis regarding the inherent conict between indigenous Chinese beliefs and Western industrial practices,
he turned to an analysis of Daoisms impact on the conservatism of Chinese people. Dewey specically referred to Laozis teachings: the doctrine
of the superiority of nature to man and the concept of wuwei, often translated as nondoing. Dewey here rendered these notions in a way few Westerners could surpass in sympathy and penetration. As he contended:
[The idea of nondoing] is nothing more than mere inactivity; it is a
kind of rule of moral doing, a doctrine of active patience, endurance,
persistence while nature has time to do her work. Conquering by
yielding is its motto. The workings of nature will in time bring to
naught the articial fussings and fumings of man. Give enough rope
to the haughty and ambitious, and in the end they will surely be
hung in the articial entanglements they have themselves evolved.
(MW 13: 222)

Dewey stated that Laozis teachings were inuential in China because

they had long been integrated into her agrarian habits of life. In his
reading about Chinese agriculture, Dewey learned that while western

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81

peoples have attacked, exploited and in the end wasted the soil, [the
Chinese] have conserved it. He believed this unparalleled human
achievement in agriculture accounted much for the conservatism of
the Chinese because they had learned to wait for the fruition of slow
natural processes and because in their mode of life nature cannot be
hustled (MW 13: 22223).
Dewey found the major key to the answers he had been searching
for. He reminded his U.S. readers that the way the Chinese dealt with
their political and social problems would always remain unintelligible
unless their philosophy of life was taken into account. Dewey insisted,
To achieve anything worth while [sic] in our relations with the Chinese
we have to adopt enough of their own point of view to recognize the importance of time. We must give them time and then more time; we must
take time ourselves while we give them time (MW 13: 223). Nonetheless,
Dewey was not uncritical of the downsides of such lassiez-faire reverence
for nature. He said, Non-doing runs easily into passive submission, conservatism into stubborn attachment to habitudes so xed as to be natural, into dread and dislike of change. He held the Chinese philosophy
of life embodies a profoundly valuable contribution to human culture
and one of which a hurried, impatient, over-busied and anxious West is
indenitely in need (MW 13: 223).
Interestingly, the English philosopher Bertrand Russell shared and
popularized this view in his The Problem of China (1922)the result of his
nine-month stay in China. It is highly likely that Russells book came out
after Deweys As the Chinese Think and that Russell might even have
read this article, although no denitive evidence exists. Because Russells
book was lled with exaltations of Chinese culture and civilization, the
Republican president Dr. Sun Yat-sen praised the British philosopher as
one of the few Westerners who truly understood China.25 Unfortunately,
the president did not mention the U.S. philosopher. If Dr. Sun had known
that Russell at one point thought that the Beijing government of China
was so corrupt that fty years of foreign domination is the only hope,
Sun would probably have reconsidered his view of Russell.26
It is interesting to speculate why Dewey did not write a book on
China as did Bertrand Russell, who once wrote that I dont think that
I shall write on Chinait is a complex country, with an old civilization,
very hard to fathom.27 While Dewey was in China, a publisher wrote
to him, expressing great eagerness to publish a volume of his essays
on China.28 Walter Lippmann also wrote to Dewey, encouraging him
to write a special book on China and assuring him that more than one
publisher had already expressed interest.29 A simple and obvious reason
why Dewey declined the opportunity might be that he had said all he
needed to say about China in dozens of his articles and thus did not

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want to repeat himself. On closer examination, Deweys decision was, in

fact, quite consistent with his commitment to interpret China on its own
terms. Knowing that China was going through a series of rapid changes
and that the terms employed to interpret China at one time might seem
superuous or irrelevant at others, Dewey was modest and wise enough
not to assume the role of expert or prophet. In his review of Russells
book, Dewey indicated that Russells treatment of China in a straightforward and clear-cut manner overlooked underlying obscurities and ambiguities. As Dewey put it, Russell made a lucid exposition of the external, or political and economic, problem of Chinawith a lucidity which,
emerging from an obscure world, must always be close, as it is with Mr.
Russell, to irony (MW 15: 217). Dewey further remarked, probably no
one but a Chinese can give it to the world, a picture of the most wonderful as well as the most difcult to bring to conclusion of any that human
history has yet witnessed (MW 15: 18).
Furthermore, Deweys decision not to write a book on China might
also reect an unwillingness to use the portrait of Chinawith its contrasting images and ideasto dene Europe. As Dewey said in his review
of Russells book, Russell portrayed China as an angel of light to show up
the darkness of western civilization, but failed to touch on the problem of
Chinas internal transformation. Dewey concluded, As a good European,
he [Russell] is perhaps chiey interested in European culture and what Europe has to learn from Asia; in comparison the stupendous and marvelous
problem of the intrinsic remaking of the oldest, thickest, and most extensive civilization of the world does not attract his attention (MW 15: 218).
Unlike Russell who constructed an elevated image of Chinese virtues as a
weapon to lash out against the vices of Western industrialism and imperialism, Dewey viewed China neither retrospectively nor instrumentally,
but prospectively.30 In his look toward the future of China, Dewey was
willing to remain a sympathetic observer and an eloquent defender, rather
than an authoritative expert.
Most important, Deweys attitude toward China was a liberal one, as
Remer observed in 1920: [Deweys] thought [about China] is not of the
apologetic sort; it is experimental. This makes him a liberal thinker in the
true sense; there is an air of freedom and hope about him. He does not,
as many do, pay lip service to liberalism while his mind is set upon the
main chance and safety rst. Remer continued, [Dewey] has helped
the people of the United States to get a fair and honest appreciation of
the activities of the Chinese and should be honored as a true servant
of his country and of the people of his time.31 Even though nothing was
improper about Remers patriotic glorication of Dewey, I think Deweys
concern for China came from his intellectual interest [as] an observer
of the affairs of humanity, as he himself put it (MW 13:75). His concern

Dewey as a Learner

83

for China persisted in the remainder of his life. At age eighty-six, Dewey
even planned to visit China for the second time.32 China was indeed the
country nearest to his heart after his own as his daughter remarked.33
In his book To Change China: Western Advisors in China, 16201960
(1980), Jonathan Spence studies sixteen Westerners who were advisors in
China. He does not include Dewey, who proved to be a good contrast to
these advisors. According to Spence, they assumed an air of superiority,
believing that their goal to make China more like the West was morally
legitimate. In a way, they expected the Chinese to accept their expertise
along with their ideologies. Because the Chinese viewed accepting a foreign ideology on foreign terms as a form of submission, they eventually
resisted. The repercussions of this conict left these Western advisors
feeling betrayed and despondent about the loss of China. If Spences
study of the Western advisors in China speaks to us about the indenable realm where altruism and exploitation meet, my study of Dewey
assures us that intellectual humility and open-mindedness can prevent
the dangers of uninformed altruism.34 Dewey recalled years later that he
arrived in China in a state of blissful ignorance, with no operation of
culture weighing me down, but he returned with a deepened understanding of human societies and cultures.35 Realizing that genuine social
change was slow in coming, Dewey acknowledged that China would
eventually stand on its own.
Dewey came to China at the perfect time for his own learning. His
teaching, however, was compromised by the intellectual climate during
the May Fourth era. Owing to the ideological divisiveness of the time,
Chinese intellectuals tended to use Dewey to serve their own agendas
rather than to engage his ideas directly. They either hailed him as a savior or denigrated him as a false god. In fact, one senses that Deweys
status as a teacher was symbolic at best. His teachings were largely mediated through the interpretations of Hu Shih, who differed from Dewey in
many important ways. Hu advocated wholesale assimilation to Western
values and beliefs, whereas Dewey hoped that China would maintain the
strengths in her own culture as a basis for future development. Dewey
understood that democracy for China had to come from her own cultural roots rather than from the imposition by foreign inuences. Unfortunately, Chinese intellectuals, including his own disciple Hu, failed to
take his advice. In the end, the biggest beneciary of this intercultural
exchange was perhaps Dewey himself.

A Fruitful Journey to the East

In many ways, Deweys visit to China was like an adventure to him. In the
beginning, he did not know what to expect; in the end, he realized that he

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could not have asked for a more interesting and fruitful journey than the
one he had in China. Now I would like to discuss the other meanings of
Deweys journey in the larger context of his life and worka timely rest,
a spiritual harbor, a professional opportunity, an international recognition, and an intellectual rejuvenation.
Apart from the educational value of Deweys visit to China, the trip
itself was a signicant and rewarding experience in many other aspects.
First and foremost, it offered a good rest that Dewey truly needed at the
time. During the years prior to his departure, Dewey had engrossed himself in political commentary and struggled to bring his pragmatic ideas
to bear on World War I politics. The struggle turned out to be not only
intellectually draining, but also emotionally disturbing. Deweys support
for U.S. intervention in the war led to a heated dispute with his pacist
friends, Ralph Bourne and Jane Addams. In particular, Deweys endorsement of the war as an intelligent use of force generated a bitter confrontation with Bourne, who accused Dewey of betraying his own democratic
principles. As Steven Rockefeller pointed out, After years of hard work
and strife on the forefront of social reform, Dewey was exhausted emotionally and physically. His poems are lled with expressions of a craving for rest, sunlit gardens, or a time to enjoy sweet soft things alluring,
and on occasion he discloses a desire for the peace and forgetfulness of
death.36 Perceived in this light, Deweys long sojourn in the Far East was
important in the sense that it enabled him to recover from psychological
fatigue and to heal emotional wounds.
As Dewey pondered over whether he should stay in China for the
second year, he wrote to a colleague at Columbia University, saying that
staying seemed the easiest thing to do, especially as reports from America arent especially attractive so far as living is concerned. Dewey also
emphasized that he wanted to clinch whatever may have got started in
the rst year.37 Later, he admitted to another friend that life here is very
easy and comfortable and neither Mrs. Dewey nor myself is anxious to
undergo the stress of home conditions. China is a paradise for old people
who dont want responsibility.38 In one sense, China was a safe haven
where Dewey could temporarily detach himself from all the political hassles at home. Although his presence in China opened his eyes to the dark
realities of international politics, it also sheltered him from criticisms for
his idealistic support for the war. The defeat of idealist aims at the Versailles Peace Conference could have been a harder blow on Dewey had he
not been abroad. Dewey was able to walk out of the traumatic shadows of
war politics so that he could return home physically rested and mentally
refreshed. Immediately after he returned, Dewey took up a leading position in the Outlawry of War movement that urged an international law
against initiating warfare.

Dewey as a Learner

85

Deweys trip to the Far East also marked a turning point in his life as a
public intellectual. The articles he published in the New Republic and Asia
provided him the opportunity to reclaim his reputation in intellectual
circles. Judging from Walter Lippmanns praise of his articles, one can
see that Deweys role as a political commentator in China must have
gained wide recognition. Moreover, Deweys letters from Japan and
China were so popular among family members that his daughter Jane
Dewey compiled them into a book to share with the public.39 The reviews
of the book were generally positive. The Deweys were praised for their
simplicity of manner and willingness to absorb local atmosphere and
customs; for their nonpropagandist viewpoint and human touch,
which were quite impossible [to nd] in a work constructed to prove
a case or a theory; and for their natural depictions, which make you
feel that you have seen China quite as truly as if you had been there.40
The popularity and recognition Dewey enjoyed because of his afliation
with China are apparent. Deweys colleagues at Columbia University
even expected him to teach a course based on his experiences in the Far
East when he returned.41
Furthermore, the fruitful experiences Dewey gained from his extensive
travel in Asia made him all the more convinced of the interconnectedness
between nations in the world. After his trip, Dewey felt more certain about
the importance of understanding other cultures and of bridging territorial, national boundaries. As Jay Martin says, after his trips to Japan and
China, Dewey had become a changed person, more precisely, an evolving person. His educational vision and his political understanding had
broadened beyond American boundaries to include the world.42 Dewey
was indeed transformed by his trip to the Far East from U.S. philosopher
to a transnational philosopher. In addition, after his visit to China, Dewey
maintained his noninterventionist approach to international politics, as
evidenced in his attitude toward Nicaragua and Mexico.43
Deweys visit to China and his efforts to help modernize Chinas
schools, which were widely reported and recognized, led to many invitations from other foreign governments to inspect their education systems.
His subsequent educational missionsTurkey in 1924, Mexico in 1926,
Russia in 1928, and South Africa in 1934are the result of this international reputation. In addition, the experiences and education Dewey had
in China allowed him to adapt quickly to foreign places and produce
insightful work in a short period of time. As one Turkish scholar said
admiringly, Written with a broad view, sympathetic and analytic, both
demanding and understanding, Deweys report [on Turkeys educational
system] is a model of its genre.44
Moreover, Deweys visit marked an intellectual rejuvenation. He wrote
to a colleague, Nothing western looks quite the same an[y] more, and this

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john dewey in china

is as near to a renewal of youth as can be hoped for in this world.45 Moreover, Deweys international trips helped shaped his later philosophical
writing, such as The Quest for Certainty (1929). As Jay Martin writes:
Much of his earlier philosophical work was present in [The Quest for
Certainty] but tempered by the political lessons he had learned in
China, Turkey, Mexico, and most recently, the Soviet Union. In each
he believed he had seen the stirrings of a modern revolution against
established institutions and beliefs. He did not have to look back to
medieval Europe to see what he was describing; he had seen in person the conict between the quest for certainty and the wish for security, counterpoised to the pressure of change.46

The visit to China can be seen as demarcating a watershed in Deweys

general intellectual development. In preparing for his numerous lectures
in China on topics ranging from education, ethics, and pragmatism to
political theories and Greek philosophy, Dewey had exhausted much of
what he knew and had thought out. After repeating these ideas again and
again in these lectures, Dewey must have been eager to refresh his mind
when he returned. Even though he did not do any philosophical reading
while he was in China, he was actively practicing philosophy in the form
of cultural and political criticism. This two-year hiatus actually pushed
his philosophical thinking and encouraged him to begin anew.47 The
next chapter looks at the way Dewey rendered his social and political
ideas anew as a result of the two-year trip.

chapter 5

THE INFLUENCE OF CHINA ON DEWEYS

S O C I A L A N D POL IT IC AL PHIL OSOPHY

The previous chapter explored Deweys learning experiences in China

during his visit. This chapter is devoted to tracing Deweys intellectual
development in relation to his visit to China, focusing mainly on his social
and political philosophy. I compare Deweys political writings during the
twelve years between German Philosophy and Politics (1915) and The Public
and Its Problems (1927). To expound the thesis of Deweys intellectual development, I also draw on his earlier and later writings wherever relevant
and appropriate. Importantly, we should note that Deweys thinking was
always evolving. The arguments I make concerning the development of
Deweys ideas do not exclude other factors in his life and thinking that
may have contributed to the development. In addition, I understand that
I am presenting only plausible but not conclusive arguments concerning
how China may have inuenced Dewey. Despite these caveats, his visit to
China undoubtedly stimulated his thinking, and the contours of his philosophy were expanded as a result. Having an alternative place to stand
and from which to look, Dewey was able to review his ideas in a fresh
light. Above all, when Deweys philosophy and his experiences in China
are considered together, we get a fuller understanding of his ideas.

Rethinking Internationalism
Deweys support for U.S. participation in World War I reected a rejection
of isolationism and an afrmation of internationalism. Unlike those who
thought that the United States could remain isolated and thus protected
87

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john dewey in china

from the political crises that were plaguing Europe, Dewey understood
that the destiny of any one nation in the modern epoch was invariably
linked to the rest of the world and that isolationism was not only undesirable but also impossible. Nonetheless, embracing internationalism was
one thing, but knowing what it entailed was quite another. How, for example, would the colonial world order be replaced by a democratic one?
What would this new democratic order look like? Or was the attempt to
make the world safe for democracy simply a high-sounding slogan?
Are wars between nations inevitable?
In his earlier writings, Dewey was primarily concerned with the political implications of internationalism. He saw an urgent need to establish a political agency or machinery that would mediate disputes and
facilitate communication among nations. Much to the dismay of his pacist friends, Dewey considered the war a means for realizing the possibility of a democratically ordered international government and the
subsequent beginning of the end of war (MW 11: 181). He thought that
genuine love of peace obligated one to establish the machinery, the specic, concrete social arrangements . . . for maintaining peace (MW 10:
263). Peace in and of itself was only a negative idea. There were ideals more important than keeping ones body whole and ones property
intact (MW 8: 203). During the war years, Dewey believed that future
human prosperity and peace depended on new international agencies of
cooperation and control, the establishment of which, he thought, would
foreclose the nineteenth-century idea of independent, isolated nationstates, thereby ushering in a new century of internationalism.
The new age of internationalism also required a reexamination of existing political theories, which had dealt largely with internal questions
about the relationships between the individual and society. This internal
focus tended to leave untouched important questions about the proper
relations between nations. The war in Europe represented the failure to
acknowledge and deal with the wider, cross-cultural relationships created
through free trade and assisted by modern methods of transportation
and communication. It signied a breakdown in the relations between
independent nations. Dewey said, In commerce, we are proceeding on
an international basis, but in politics, we are doing business . . . upon
the basis of isolated international sovereignty. We must either internationalize our antiquated political machinery or we must make our commercial ideas and practices conform to our political(MW 10: 24142).
The onset of war in Europe propelled Dewey to inquire into the nature
and problems of the nation-state. Dewey sought to reexamine the political
tradition of the West to diagnose causes for contemporary international
problems. He took as his point of departure one of the dening moments of
modern Western civilization, namely, the rise of the individual. As Dewey

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89

observed, the individual emerged in the modern West as the center of legal
rights and responsibilities. Attendant on this emergence was that of the
territorial nation-state as an enlarged individual possessing its own identity, authority, and sovereignty. For Dewey, the conception of sovereignty
as the essence of the state proved to be most pernicious. As sovereignty
stipulated absolute authority within the state and complete independence
from without, it literally maintained a perpetual condition of international
anarchy. As Donald Koch notes, Dewey was convinced that the moral
ideas connected with the sovereign state and later the national state are
inadequate to deal with the current international situation and that new
ways of construing international relations needed to be created.1
At this time, the major target of Deweys internationalism was the
idea of national sovereignty. In his German Philosophy and Politics, Dewey
set out to attack this obsolete European idea and to replace it with the
new American ideal of international democracy. Even though the book
was sometimes denigrated as a call to war, it was actually intended, Gary
Bullert argues, to assist the United States in the process of establishing its
own political theories and ideals.2 As Dewey pleaded, We must make the
accident of our internal composition into an idea, an idea upon which we
may conduct our foreign as well as our domestic policy. An international
judicial tribunal will break in the end upon the principle of national sovereignty (MW 8: 203). Dewey urged Americans to forsake the idea of national sovereignty, reminding them that their history was different from
that of Europe. Interracial and international in composition, the United
States was uniquely suited to develop the ideal of internationalism. He
said that unless Americans were willing to forgo national sovereignty and
submit their domestic and foreign policies to an international legislature,
they had no legitimate reasons to criticize other warring nations.
Throughout the war years and before his departure to the Far East,
the idea of an international, democratic government dominated Deweys
thinking about internationalism, which can be rightly characterized as
politically rather than culturally oriented. Through April 1919 before the
setbacks of democratic ideals at the Versailles Peace Conference became
a reality, Dewey still pledged support for a vigorous League of Nations.
Even though he said that democracy meant more than a government,
his writings at the time implicitly assumed that international democracy
began with a democratic international government. This view may have
reected the contingencies of wartime politics, rather than a clear and potent vision of international democracy. The content of the Versailles peace
treaty exposed the inadequacy of this view and forced Dewey to reconsider the meaning of internationalism. Dewey attributed the defeat of
American war ideals at the conference to immaturity and inexperience in
international politics (MW 11: 182). Signicantly, his visit to China came

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in time to provide him the very lesson he needed because China happened
to be, as Dewey put it, a great place to study international politics.3 On
arrival, he realized that the crisis in the Far East is innitely more serious than we realize at home.4 Fearing that either Japan or Russia would
occupy China, Dewey said that a genuine League of Nationsone with
some vigoris the only salvation I can see of the whole Eastern situation. This may be an offhand remark, but it showed that when Dewey
had just arrived in China, he still hoped that the League of Nations would
enforce justice, even with the provisoif only by any chance there is a
Leaguewhich looks most dubious at this distance.5
Half a year into his stay in China, Deweys doubtful hope for a genuine League of Nations to serve as Chinas guardian was completely
thwarted. As he reected, there was simply no sufcient amount of disinterested intelligence to perform such a task (MW 11: 213). Deweys wish
that governments working together could bring about signicant change
did not realize because international politics was largely governed by secret diplomacy and erce competition of economic interests, all pointing
invariably to the duplicity of political rhetoric and the superciality of
political machinery. Referring to the failure at the Versailles Peace Conference, Dewey said, If the United States in working with the Allies was
obliged to surrender at Paris . . . China prefers to trust a United States
which is free from such commitments and entanglements. He added
that a United States which was going it alone would be more effective in realizing true internationalism than a United States in a League
the other members of which had no belief in American ideals (MW 11:
198). The role of guardianship Dewey assigned to the United States at this
point was largely moral and intellectual. As he reminded his U.S. readers,
We stay on safe ground if we conne ourselves to saying that to be successful such a guardian would have to conne his efforts to stimulating,
encouraging and expediting the democratic forces acting from within
(MW 11: 21314). However, Dewey later came to see that even such a role
of well-intended guardianship was itself morally dubious.
Deweys growing understanding of the limitations of political internationalism and the problems of cultural misunderstanding led him
to the realization that democracy in international relations is not a
matter of agencies but of aims and consequences (MW 11: 198). The
ideal of international democracy should not be focused on establishing
a democratically ordered international government, a World Federation, International Tribunal, or League of Nations, nor should it be
focused on arranging international tutelage for so-called backward
countries. Dewey expressed this realization mostly vividly in the article,
Our National Dilemma, in which he attempted to dissect U.S. national
psychology. As he wrote, Americans had a genuine preference for and

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yet a halting attachment to democracy in politics, to the ideals of

responsible government and publicity (MW 12: 4). Deweys exposure
to Chinese habits of mind, which run counter to Western beliefs and
practices, led to these reections:
To the student of political and social development, China presents
a most exciting intellectual situation. He has read in books the account of the slow evolution of law and orderly governmental institutions. He nds in China an object lesson in what he has read. We take
for granted the existence of government as an agency for enforcing
justice between men and for protecting personal rights. We depend
upon regular and orderly legal and judicial procedure to settle disputes as we take for granted the atmosphere we breathe. In China life
goes on practically without such support and guarantees. And yet in
the ordinary life of the people peace and order reign. (MW 12: 41)

Even though Dewey may have overstated the orderliness of the lives of
ordinary people in China, the contrast he perceived was evident enough
to suggest to him the fallibility of Western political habitudes, namely, the
overreliance on government as an organ for social justice and world peace.
As a matter of fact, internationalism was better exemplied in the
effort to guard one nations own domestic policies against untoward
consequences of events in other nations, rather than in the attempt to
force other nations to comply with ones presumed universal rules and
ideals, either in the name of a policeman or a guardian. In Our Share
in Drugging China, Dewey attempted to make this point. He began by
saying, Of the millions who associate opium and China probably only
few know, beyond a vague impression of Englands part in an Opium
War, that from the very beginning, the responsibility for introduction
and spread of the use of narcotics lies with foreign nations (MW 11: 235).
He went on to explain how tons of parcels containing illegal drugs arrived in China through a process of international cooperation. These
products were shipped by the manufacturers in Scotland to the United
States, reshipped from the United States to Japan, and nally smuggled
from Japan to the coastal dealers in China. Dewey said that U.S. participation in the whole process of poisoning China lay in a policy that
allowed the drugs to be vaguely labeled as pharmaceutical products,
insisting that the primary responsibility is with the laws and administration of the United States (MW 11: 239). He urged the U.S. government
to frame laws and regulations that would compel adequate registration
of all opium products reaching its ports and would make retransporting such products for export a crime. Dewey believed that this change of
domestic policy in response to its international consequences was a surer

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way to secure internationalist ideals than a corrupt League of Nations or

an international tutelage with a hidden imperialistic agenda.
In light of the inadequacy of political internationalism, Dewey shifted
his emphasis to the cultural manifestations of internationalism. He wrote,
The atmosphere that makes international troubles inammable is the
product of deep-seated misunderstandings that have their origin in different philosophies of life (MW 13: 218). The way to re-proof international relations, Dewey said, must begin with an attempt at an honest
understanding of one anothers philosophy of life. As he elaborated:
The common belief at the present time that the Pacic is to be the
scene of the next great world catastrophe, the fatalistic belief that
conict between the white and the yellow race[s] is predestined, are
really expressions of a sense of a deep, underlying cleft that makes
cultural understanding impossible. But instead of trying to lesson
[sic] the cleft by effort to understand each other, we talk about an irrepressible conict of forces beyond human control, or else about the
competition for control of the natural sources of China and the tropics. . . . If we succeed in really understanding each other, some way
of cooperation for common ends can be found. If we neglect the part
played by fundamental misunderstandings in developing an atmosphere of combustion, any devices that are hit upon for lessoning [sic]
economic friction are likely to turn out so supercial that soon[er] or
later they will break down. (MW 13: 21819)

Democracy in international relations should be based not only on the

establishment of political organizations, but also on the foundation of
cultural understanding. The more we understand one anothers cultures,
the more we are likely to form an international community.
How, then, do we understand one anothers cultures? To put into
practice his newfound belief in the importance of cultural understanding,
Dewey seized every opportunity he had to travel outside of the United
States to continue his learning about different cultures and to sharpen
his views about international politics. During the years between 1924
and 1934, Dewey visited Turkey, Mexico, Russia, and South Africa while
diligently recording his observations and reporting them to his fellow
Americans. However, cultural understanding neither begins nor ends
with foreign trips. It is a mindset and an attitude fostered by local experience. Democracy, be it domestic or international, has its origin in the
neighborly community. As Dewey wrote in The Public and Its Problems:
It is said, and said truly, that for the worlds peace it is necessary
that we understand the peoples of foreign lands. How well do we

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understand, I wonder, our next door neighbors? It has also been said
that if a man love not his fellow man whom he has seen, he cannot love the God whom he has not seen. The chances of regard for
distant peoples being effective as long as there is no close neighborhood experience to bring with it insights and understanding
of neighbors do not seem better. A man who has not been seen in
the daily relations of life may inspire admiration, emulation, servile subjection, fanatical partisanship, hero worship; but not love
and understanding, save as they radiate from the attachments of a
near-by union. Democracy must begin at home, and its home is the
neighborly community. (LW 2: 368)

Dewey believed that because the United States is intercultural and interracial in composition, the consolidation of local communities comprising people of different ethnicities and nationalities would lead to
cultural understanding.
Dewey once cautioned, it is ridiculous to suppose that the problems of the Pacic can be settled in a few weeks, or monthsor years
(MW 13: 172). Likewise, democracy in international relations was not to
be achieved in months, in years, or even in decades because it depends
on enlightened communication based on a solid foundation of cultural
understanding. There is no shortcut to cultural understanding; only frequent contacts, amicable interaction, open communication, and intelligent
inquiry can gradually bring it about. Resort to military force or political
authority is a step backward in this process. Victories in wars, however
apparently legitimate and glorious, are always self-destructive because
they breed within them the seeds of ever more hostility, ever more loss of
human lives, and ever more denigration of human dignity. The wars may
have been won, but the people denitely will have lost.

Replacing the State with the Public

Since the outbreak of World War I, Dewey had been reecting on the
problem concerning the idealization of the nation-state. In his German
Philosophy and Politics, Dewey set out to reject Hegels metaphysical formulation of the state as the embodiment of absolute spirit, as God on
earth, which lies beyond the criticism of reason and experience. Dewey
thought that Hegel was writing the entire history of humanity in nationalistic terms. In Hegels formulation, The State is the Individual of
history; it is to history what a given man is to biography. History gives
us the progressive realization or evolution of the Absolute, moving from
one National Individual to another. It is law, the universal, which makes
the State a State (MW 8: 195). Hegel ignores all future possibility of a

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genuinely international federation to which isolated nationalism shall

be subordinated (MW 8: 196). In Reconstruction in Philosophy, Dewey
continued accusing Hegel of [telling] us about the state when we want
to know about some state, and of implying that what is said about the
state applies to any state that we happen to wish to know about (MW
12: 188). Deweys thinking at this point can be summed up in his repudiation of Hegels theory and his endorsement of an international
federation that would render obsolete the idea of national sovereignty.
However, the question of what the state is, if not God on earth, was
still to be addressed.
Dewey did not develop his own theory of the state to replace Hegels
until he published The Public and Its Problems in 1927. However, the issue concerning the nature and scope of the nation-state occupied his
mind during the interim years, particularly as he observed the process
of Chinas development into a modern nation-state. Dewey argued that
China was not a nation in terms of how nations came to be understood
in Europe. China was diversied as Europe rather than homogeneous as
France. However, Dewey assured that China was soon to become a nation, even though no one knew how long it would take and what kind
of nation it would become. In one sense, Deweys visit to China seemed
like a trip back in time: the China he saw was like Europe before it was
divided into several independent nation-states. This unique opportunity
provided an actual historical and empirical context for him to dissect the
concept of the nation-state. For instance, in the midst of his analyses of
Chinas situation, Dewey raised these questions about the past and future
of the nation-state:
When did nations begin to be, anyway? How long has France been a
compact and homogeneous nation? Italy, Germany? What forces made
them nations? And what is going to be the future of the national state
outside of China? What is the future of internationalism? Our whole
concept of a nation is of such recent origin that it is not surprising that
it does not t in any exact way into Chinese conditions. And possibly
the days in which political nationality is most fully established are
also the days of its beginning to decline. (MW 13: 73)

Dewey was evidently questioning the permanence of the state with his
suggestion about its possible decline. He actually developed this idea in
The Public and Its Problems, where he claimed, a state is ever something
to be scrutinized, investigated, searched for. Almost as soon as its form is
stabilized, it needs to be re-made (LW 2: 255).
Before we consider how his experiences in China might have inuenced
the development of his thought, we need to examine Deweys theory of the

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95

state. The theory was by no means elaborate; it derived from his notion of
the public, which was the focus of his thinking. Dewey opened the discussion of chapter one, Search for the Public, by surveying various theories
of the state in the history of Western political thought. The state has been
viewed as an ideal of associated and harmonized life, an arbiter in the
conict of other social units, or as an organized oppression (LW 2: 238
39). Though divergent and conicting, these views resulted from the same
attempt to look for state-forming forces (LW 2: 242). Dewey claimed
that political philosophers before him have looked in the wrong place,
that is, in the eld of agencies, in that of doers of deeds, or in some will
or purpose of authorship (LW 2: 247). Taking the form of the state as a
given, they envisioned the State as possessing an ontological reality of
its own, independent of the fact that the actual forms of the state differ in
different epochs, locales, and cultures. Dewey suggested that we search
for the public to nd the state because if we look in the wrong place for
the public, we shall never locate the state (LW 2: 259).
To discover the public, and hence the state, Dewey called for a consequentialist approach: that is, starting with the facts of human activity and
considering their consequences. He took as his point of departure the fact
that human acts have consequences upon others, and that some of these
consequences are perceived, and that their perception leads to subsequent
effort to control action so as to secure some consequences and avoid others (LW 2: 243). Dewey proceeded to make a distinction between direct
consequences, which affect the persons directly engaged, and indirect
consequences, which extend beyond those immediately concerned. He
claimed, those indirectly and seriously affected for good or for evil form
a group distinctive enough to require recognition and a name. The name
selected is The Public (LW 2: 257). As for the state, Dewey said that the
only statement which can be made is a purely formal one: the state is the
organization of the public effected through ofcials for the protection of
the interests shared by its members. What Dewey presented is a generic
account of the state as it is, as it ought to be, and as it may become. His
account may appear too simplistic to those looking for a grand theory.
However, its signicance lies in the possibilities it opened for future experimentation with the forms of the state. As he added, what the public
may be, what the ofcials are, how adequately they perform their function, are things we have to go to history to discover (LW 2: 256).
For Dewey, the role of the public is primary, whereas the function
of the state is subordinate. There is no state without a government, but
also there is none without the public (LW 2: 277). The state is a distinctive and secondary form of association, having a speciable work to do
and specied organs of operation. Therefore, one should not assign
all the values which are generated and maintained by means of human

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associations to the work of states (LW 2: 279). Dewey knew of no better

way to apprehend the absurdity of such presuppositions than to call to
mind the inuence upon community life of Socrates, Buddha, Jesus, Aristotle, Confucius, Homer, Vergil [sic], Dante, St. Thomas, Shakespeare, Copernicus, Galileo, Newton, Boyle, Locke, Rousseau and countless others,
and then to ask ourselves if we conceive these men to be ofcers (LW
2: 253). Indeed, it makes no sense to exaggerate the authority of the state
by granting it mystical or supernatural sanction. Likewise, it makes no
sense to translate all social values into political value (LW 2: 280). The
state comes into existence as a result of the operation of habits formed
through the naturally associative character of human action. The state is
but one element of society, the representation of one social interest. Unfortunately, in theory, it often takes precedence over all others.
In Deweys view, both the public and the state have no xed forms,
the reasons being that different conditions make the consequences of
associated action and the knowledge of them different and that the
means by which a public can determine the government to serve its interests vary (LW 2: 256). The public can be local, national, or transnational,
depending on the scope and quantity of extensive, enduring, serious consequences perceived and acknowledged as needing regulation. Deweys
pragmatic sensibility allowed him to break from existing political forms
and to envision a new public generated in the modern era of human relationships. He urged that non-political forces organize themselves to
transform existing political structures: that the divided and troubled publics integrate (LW 2: 315).
Nevertheless, Dewey understood the difculty of this task because
the change of the forms of state is so often effected only by revolution.
He lamented, The creation of adequately exible and responsive political and legal machinery has so far been beyond the wit of man (LW 2:
255). As he said, the treaty of Versailles is there to show how difcult
it is to make a shift of personnel even when conditions radically alter so
that there is need for men of a changed outlook and interests (LW 2:
28485). Even though changing existing political forms is difcult, that
is what he proposedonly gradually, continuously, and experimentally.
Because the conditions of human action and of social inquiry are always
changing, the experiment, as Dewey noted, must always be retried;
the State must always be rediscovered (LW 2: 256). He further pointed
out that political philosophy and science should not engage in determining what the state in general should or must be, but to aid in creation
of methods such that experimentation may go on less blindly, less at the
mercy of accident, more intelligently. Dewey reminded his U.S. readers:
The belief in political xity, of the sanctity of some form of state consecrated by the efforts of our fathers and hallowed by tradition, is one of

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the stumbling-blocks in the way of orderly and directed change; it is an

invitation to revolt and revolution (LW 2: 25657).
To answer the question of what may have contributed to the development of Deweys thinking, many will immediately think of Walter
Lippmanns The Phantom Public (1925), which provoked Dewey to write
a defense of democracy, The Public and Its Problems, against Lippmanns
charges. Although this may have been the immediate stimulus, it does
not explain the content of Deweys response. To understand that content,
we need to link Deweys political experiences in World War I and his subsequent experiences in China. First, the war had a huge impact on Dewey.
In his support for U.S. participation in the war, Dewey relied on political
institutions to implement change only to realize that he should not have
taken political leaders professed ideals for granted. At that time, Dewey
lacked an understanding that the type of man brought forward by war
is not the type needed to make peace (MW 11: 182). Figuratively speaking, Dewey had a brief romance with the state. Like most unsuccessful
relationships, it ended in profound distrustin this case, distrust of state
institutions and government agencies as effective means of social change.
Deweys distrust of the state led him to remark years later that one of the
most regular activities of the politically organized community has been
waging war (LW 2: 245) and that the world has suffered more from
leaders and authorities than from the masses (LW 2: 365). In fact, some
scholars interpreted Deweys political theories that advocate government
without domination as more anarchist than liberal.6
The impact of the war on Dewey fermented during his visit to the Far
East. Overwhelmed by wartime politics, the fatigued Dewey traveled to
Japan soon after the war ended. When the news of the Versailles Peace
Conference broke, Dewey was arriving in China just in time to watch
the prelude of a fascinating historical drama, namely, the May Fourth
movement. As noted, Dewey was captivated by the power of public opinion manifested in the strikes of students and the boycotts of merchants.
The image of a powerful publicindependent of the state but in the
end capable of controlling itwas deeply impressed on Deweys mind.
The events in China convinced him that political purposes could be effectively achieved through moral and intellectual force, as opposed to
regular government channels and military means. Dewey said, Even if
nothing more were to come of the movement, it would be worth observation and record as an exhibition of the way in which China is really
governedwhen it is governed at all. He added:
American children are taught the list of modern inventions that
originated in China. They are not taught, however, that China invented the boycott, the general strike and guild organization as means

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of controlling public affairs. In no other civilized country of the present day is brute force such a factor in ofcial government as in China.
But in no other country could moral and intellectual force accomplish
so quickly and peaceably what was effected in China in the last ve or
six weeks. (MW 11: 191)

The tone of Deweys writing seemed to convey his amazement and

excitement.
Dewey was fascinated by the contrast he saw between an organized,
integrated public and an incompetent, untrustworthy state. This experience
helped turn his attention away from the state to the public. Nonetheless, I
do not mean to suggest that Dewey thought that the state could be completely discarded or that he came to hold an antipolitical bias as his disciple Hu Shih did. As mentioned earlier, Dewey had doubted the efcacy of
cultural reform alone in effecting social change. In his distrust of the state,
Dewey did not become antipolitical. He simply took a different approach
to politics: he realized that political action could be accomplished through
the public rather than the state. The rst two chapters of The Public and Its
Problems can be construed as a deliberate attempt to clarify the point that
the consolidation of the public is more important than that of the state.
Let me elaborate on the arguments just outlined and give more examples of how Deweys exposure to Chinese political psychology and
social reality reinforced his earlier denunciation of the supremacy of the
state. In Chinese National Sentiment, Dewey wrote:
The central factor in the Chinese historic political psychology is its
profound indifference to everything that we associate with the state,
with government. One inclines to wonder sometimes why the anarchists of the pacist and philosophic type have not seized upon
China as a working exemplication of their theories. Probably the
reason is that being preoccupied with the problem of active abolition
of government, they have not been able to conceive of an anarchy
which should be only a profound apathy towards government. Or
else they, too, have been misled by the popular association of anarchy
with extreme freedom and mobility, and could not imagine it in connection with the stagnation attributed to China. (MW 11: 216)

The fact that China could sustain itself in the long course of human history with the majority of its people being indifferent to political questions was an eye-opener to Dewey. Even though China had been ruled
by imperial governments, and sometimes despotic ones, the masses still
went about their business of tilling and eating, begetting and dying. As
Dewey described:

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99

Governors come and go, and fuss about their petty intrigues of glory
and greed. But they do not govern the farmers, who are the mass of
the population. The only governance known to them is that of nature,
the rules of the immemorial change of seasons, the fateful laws of
birth and death, of seed-corn and harvest, of ood and pestilence. In
the words of perhaps their oftenest quoted proverb, Heaven is high
and the Emperor far away. The implication is that earth is close and
intimate, the family and village nearby. (MW 11: 217)

The central government of China, except on a few important ritual occasions, had nothing much to do with the ordinary lives of the people.
The West has embarked on a very different path because it approaches
all political questions with ideas composed on the pattern of a national
state, with its sovereignty and denite organs, political, judicial, executive
and administrative, to perform specic functions. As Dewey observed:
We have taken European political development as a necessary standard of normal political evolution. We have made ourselves believe
that all development from savagery to civilization must follow a
like course and pass through similar stages. When we nd societies
that do not agree with this standard we blandly dismiss them as
abnormalities, as survivals of backward states, or as manifestations
of lack of political capacity. (MW 11: 215).

Chinese institutions and ideas were considered malfunctioning or backward according to Western standards. In actual fact, Dewey said, they
mark an extraordinary development in a particular direction, one that
seems so strange and unfamiliar that we dispose of them as a mass of
hopeless political confusion and corruption. Dewey further praised this
development as embodying a high code of ethics without the blessings of
a divine revelation (MW 11: 215). The particular direction of development Dewey mentioned here resonated with what he later distinguished
as social and moral democracy. I return to this point later in this chapter
when I discuss the inuence of China on his thinking about democracy.
Dewey saw nothing particularly sacred or universal in the political
pattern of the West. Informed by the history of Chinas political development, he attempted to reconstruct Western political philosophy to reect
empirical facts and enhance experimental possibilities. Before Dewey
went to China, he had only Western examples to draw on, which are limited as well as limiting. His analyses of Chinese history and politics enabled him to think outside of the Western box and to broaden his perspective. To counter universal claims about the state, Dewey used examples in
Eastern cultures to support his central contention about the nature of the

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state, namely, its temporal and local diversication. As he explained in

The Public and Its Problems, For long periods of human history, especially
in the Orient, the state is hardly more than a shadow thrown upon the
family and neighborhood by remote personages, swollen to gigantic form
by religious beliefs. It rules but it does not regulate; for its rule is conned
to receipt of tribute and ceremonial deference. Duties are within the family; property is possessed by the family (LW 2: 26162).
Dewey was impressed with Chinese politics because it is not a
branch of morals but submerged in morals and because the value of
the state lies in what it does not do. A perfect state was regarded as
being one with the processes of nature, in virtue of which the seasons
travel their constant round, so that elds under the benecent rule of
sun and rain produce their harvest, and the neighborhood prospers in
peace (LW 2: 262). The picture of Chinese political life, as Dewey understood it, may lie behind his claim that under some conditions, the state
is the most idle and empty of all social arrangements (LW 2: 253). The
evidence from the Chinese political history allowed Dewey to reject the
presupposition of the state as an archetypal entity pervasive in Western
political philosophy and science (LW 2: 264).
Dewey also pointed out some prejudices in the way Western nations
positioned themselves in their contact with non-Western countries. As he
wrote, The idea that there is a model pattern which makes a state a good
or true state . . . is responsible for the effort to form constitutions offhand
and impose them ready-made on peoples (LW 2: 264). Even though
Dewey did not indicate which particular instance he was referring to,
he might have been thinking of the case in China. For example, in his reports on contemporary Chinese events, Dewey depicted the newly established Republican government as a total disaster because it was imposed
rather than developed from within. As he put it, the superimposition of
a national state, without corresponding transformation of local institutions (or better without an evolution of the spirit of local democracies
into national scope) gives us just what we now have in China: A nominal
republic governed by a military clique (MW 11: 212). Many Westerners
regarded the 1911 revolution that ended dynastic rule in China as a sure
sign of political progress, as a giant stride out of the nineteenth century into the twentieth century, a move from Asian despotism to western
republicanism.7 Dewey had strong reservations. As he indicated in The
Public and Its Problems, the Western belief in a model pattern of political development often attered the conceit of those [Western] nations
which, being politically advanced, assumed that they were so near the
apex of evolution as to wear the crown of statehood (LW 2: 264).
Before Dewey visited China, he had already rejected the supremacy
of the state and emphasized instead the emerging reality of transnational

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interests and organizations. Indeed, Deweys ideas were always evolving. His observations of international politics and his reections on the
war were sufcient enough to lead him to the same conclusion. However, I maintain that Dewey could not have developed his own account
of the state, which appeared in The Public and Its Problems, without being informed by his experience in China. In Reconstruction in Philosophy,
Dewey deplored the fact that traditional political philosophy had been
suffering from abstract denition and ultra-scientic argumentation
(MW 12: 91) and argued that a more scientic, empirical approach was
needed for an accurate understanding of the nature of the state. Nonetheless, Dewey lacked a comprehensive historical perspective at the time
to allow him to tackle the problem. Fortunately, his two-year visit to
China made him acquainted with Chinese history and politics, thereby
enabling him to base his inquiry into the state on a wider understanding
of concrete, historical facts. This history teaches that no invariant political structures are to be found in the Occident and the Orient in ancient
and modern times. From this vantage point, Dewey was able to debunk
the Western myth of the state.
Let me conclude this section of the chapter with an additional note.
Deweys call to discard a narrow, xed metaphysical concept of the state
by replacing it with a broad, dynamic experimental concept of the public,
presented in the rst two chapters of The Public and Its Problems, received
relatively little attention in the literature, compared to what Dewey said
about democracy in the later chapters. In light of the immediate context
of U.S. liberalism, Deweys concerns in these pages may have seemed
rather peripheral or remoteif not entirely irrelevant. Those who were
concerned merely with U.S. domestic politics might fail to note the relevance of his discussion of the public and the state to his view of democracy in the remainder of the book. However, if we place Deweys
ideas about the public and the state in the larger context of the threat of
international waran ongoing concern of Deweysthe signicance of
Deweys theoretical formulations about the state and the public immediately reveals itself.
In his introduction to the 1942 edition of the book, Dewey reiterated
the central point in his analysis of the public and the state. He wrote, the
decline . . . of Isolationism is evidence that there is developing the sense
that relations between nations are taking on the properties that constitute
a public, and hence call for some measure of political organization (LW
2: 375). He recapitulated his broader political concern: The scope, the
range, of the public, the question of where the public shall end and the
sphere of the private begin, has long been a vital political problem in domestic affairs. He was glad that At last the same issue is actively raised
about the relations between national units, no one of which in the past

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has acknowledged political responsibility in the conduct of its policies toward other national units. He admitted that although there has been
acknowledgment of moral responsibility, it broke down very easily in
the case of relationships between nations (LW 2: 376). I hope that through
my discussion of Deweys experiences in China in relation to his theory
of the public and the state, I have indirectly demonstrated that Dewey
had a larger concern in mind than to save democracy of America and
for America, as one reviewer in the 1920s suggested.8 Next I discuss the
focal point of the book, namely, Deweys conception of democracy and
the inuence of China on his matured thinking.

Reconstructing Democracy
Let me begin by addressing the link between Deweys theory of the public
and the state and his conception of democracy. The connection is crucial
because it will reveal an important continuity. By debunking the myth of
the state and articulating a vision of the public, Dewey forcefully challenges existing political democracies as the best possible states. This in
turn enabled him to distinguish between democracy as a system of government and as a way of life. At the same time, this points to the need to
reorder political priorities: instead of rening the democratic machinery,
we should consolidate and revitalize local communities. If the authoritative aura surrounding the democratic machinery remains unchallenged,
democracy as a moral ideal will always elude our attention.
In chapter three of The Public and Its Problems, Dewey discussed the
emergence of the democratic state in its historical context. Lacking a historical perspective, one tends to make the creation of democracy into a
legend, and thus, as Dewey said, to throw away all means for an intelligent criticism of it. According to the legend, the democratic government
originated in a single clear-cut idea and proceeded by a single unbroken impetus to unfold itself to a predestined end. Dewey criticized this
view by saying that political movements do not embody some absolute
and unquestioned good. Instead, they represent a choice, amid a complex of contending forces, of that particular possibility which appears to
promise the most good with the least attendant evil (LW 2: 287). Because democracy as a form of government did not emerge from a clear
and potent vision of what democracy is, this lack of a clear vision should
propel one to look further into the meaning of democracy rather than to
celebrate it with self-congratulatory applauses.
To challenge the sanctity of the political system of democracy, Dewey
argued that mechanisms such as universal suffrage, frequent elections,
majority rule, the cabinet and congress, should be understood as practical devices to direct social experimentation, not as nal truths (LW 2:

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326). However, Dewey was aware of the obstacles involved in adopting

an experimental approach to politics, namely, our attachments to established norms and values. As he put it, [e]motional habituations and intellectual habitudes on the part of the mass of men create the conditions
of which the exploiters of sentiment and opinion only take advantage.
Lamenting the gap between the physical and social sciences attitudes
toward experimentation, Dewey wrote:
Men have got used to an experimental method in physical and technical matters. They are still afraid of it in human concerns. The fear is
the more efcacious because like all deep-lying fears it is covered up
and disguised by all kinds of rationalizations. One of its commonest
forms is a truly religious idealization of, and reverence for, established
institutions; for example in our own politics, the Constitution, the Supreme Court, private property, free contract and so on. (LW 2:341)

Dewey cautioned that the belief in political xity would lead to stagnation and ultimately revolution.
Even though Dewey seemed rather critical in his attempt to demystify the democratic state and government, he acknowledged a steady
historical current in the direction of political governance toward democratic forms. As he observed, That government exists to serve its community, and that this purpose cannot be achieved unless the community
itself shares in selecting its governors and determining their policies, are
a deposit of fact left . . . permanently in the wake of doctrines and forms,
however transitory the latter. Therefore, he thought it reasonable to expect that whatever changes may take place in existing democratic machinery, they will be of a sort to make the interest of the public a more
supreme guide and criterion of governmental activity, and to enable the
public to form and manifest its purposes still more authoritatively (LW
2: 327). Nonetheless, Dewey insisted that this expressed only the political
phase of democracy.
Dewey believed that the cure for the ills of democracy is more democracynot in the sense of more machinery, but in the sense of a fuller
grasp of the idea. Democracy will be secured only when we discover the
means by which a scattered public can organize itself and express its interests. Dewey also claimed that this discovery is necessarily precedent
to any fundamental change in the machinery. It is somewhat futile
to consider what forms of political machinery are best as long as we remain at the stage of the Great Society, rather than that of the Great
Community (LW 2: 327). If a ourishing, functioning community exists, the problems of political machinery will not be particularly pressing or predominant. Discussions of and solutions to these problems will

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be integrated into the daily lives of people in their communities as they

gather for social events or formal meetings. Political democracy in its
narrow sense does not affect all modes of human association, which include, for instance, the family, the school, the workplace, and the temple
or church. Therefore, it offers little assistance in creating cohesive communities. Dewey said that important questions concerning the well-being of communities were practical matters, such as transportation, public
health, city planning, regulation of immigrants, adjustment of taxation,
and preparation of teachers. He asked, What has counting heads, decision by majority and the whole apparatus of traditional government to
do with such things? Dewey said that the assumed public represented
by the political machinery of democracy is not only a ghost, but a ghost
which walks and talks, and obscures, confuses and misleads governmental action in a disastrous way (LW 2: 313).
The central contention of The Public and Its Problems lies in this oftenquoted line in which Dewey proclaimed, regarded as an idea, democracy is not an alternative to other principles of associated life. It is the idea
of community life itself. As he elaborated:
Wherever there is conjoint activity whose consequences are appreciated as good by all singular persons who take part in it, and where
the realization of the good is such as to effect an energetic desire and
effort to sustain it in being just because it is a good shared by all, there
is in so far a community. The clear consciousness of a communal life,
in all its implications, constitutes the idea of democracy. (LW 2: 328)

This moral vision of democracy as an ideal community is surely inspiring. However, Dewey was not proposing a utopian dream; he said that
democracy in this sense is not a fact and never will be (LW 2: 328).
Nevertheless, he urged that we start from a rmer grasp of the ideal community life against which to measure our cherished norms, values, and
customs to better propel our future more reliably toward this goal.
Dewey redened the meaning of liberty and equality in the context
of community life. Liberty, he said, does not mean independence of social ties, as in the sense of absolute autonomy. Liberty is what secures
release and fulllment of personal potentialities which take place only
in rich and manifold association with others. It is the power to be an
individualized self making a distinctive contribution and enjoying in its
own way the fruits of association. Equality, Dewey noted, does not signify some kind of mathematical or physical equivalence in virtue of
which any one element may be substituted for another. Rather, it denotes the unhampered share with which each individual member of the
community has in the consequences of associated action as well as an

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effective regard for whatever is distinctive and unique in each, irrespective of physical and psychological inequalities (LW 2: 32930). Equality
is not a natural possession, but a fruit of community. To counter the
ingrained individualism in the Western intellectual tradition, Dewey said,
To learn to be human is to develop through the give-and-take of communication an effective sense of being an individually distinctive member of a
community; one who understands and appreciates its beliefs, desires, and
methods, and who contributes to a further conversion of organic powers
into human resources and values (LW 2: 332). In rejecting the notion of
the discrete individual and afrming the role of community in creating
individuals, Dewey proposed a vision of democracy that diverges greatly
from the rights-based liberalism of much Western political thought. I return to this point in the nal section of this chapter.
Now let me compare Deweys Democracy and Education with his The
Public and Its Problems to show the nuanced but substantial differences
in Deweys treatment of democracy. In the former, Dewey wrote that
democracy is primarily a mode of associated living, of conjoint communicated experience (MW 9: 93). However, the associated living does
not guarantee communicated experience. People can be associated in
many ways without feeling a sense of connectedness to one another and
having a clear understanding of one another. In the latter, Dewey called
attention to the insufciency of mere association by saying, No amount
of aggregated collective action of itself constitutes a community. Dewey
further differentiated associated living from communal life: Association itself is physical and organic while communal life is moral, that is
emotionally, intellectually, consciously sustained (LW 2: 330). In Deweys view, we are born organic beings associated with others, but we
are not born members of a community (LW 2: 331). Associated living is
not a sufcient condition of democracy as a form of community life that
Dewey later emphasized.
In Democracy and Education, Dewey explicitly claimed, a democracy
is more than a form of government. Nonetheless, he used the example
of a despotically governed statea political exampleas a contrast to
democracy. He took pains to explain how such a state failed to meet his
democratic criterion: namely, the number and variety of interests shared
and the fullness of interplay between various social groups. Even though
Dewey sensed the insufciency of the political connotations of democracy, he was unable to remove democracy from its political ancestry. The
Western political heritage still had a hold on him. Furthermore, Deweys
critique of despotism may be easily taken to imply that no democracy
exists in a despotically governed state. This may be the case with the relationship between the ruler and the ruled. However, in the relationships
among individuals in their local environments where imperial power

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hardly ever reaches, conjoint and communicated experiences may be

common and frequent.
Dewey later seemed to have sensed the inadequacy of his earlier
presupposition. Therefore, he made a small but important qualication
when writing The Public and Its Problems. In describing the premodern
forms of human association, such as those Chinese village life represents, Dewey wrote:
Those [associations] which were important, which really counted in
forming emotional and intellectual dispositions, were local and contiguous and consequently visible. Human beings, if they shared in
them at all, shared directly and in a way of which they were aware
in both their affections and their beliefs. The state, even when it despotically interfered, was remote, an agency alien to daily life. Otherwise it entered mens lives through custom and common law. (LW
2: 29596, emphasis added)

Dewey seemed to realize that one can be easily prejudiced by the political appearance of a despotic state without looking into its peoples
ordinary ways of life that may be harmonious and democratic. Dewey
later accentuated the fact that democracy is a complex affair and that
its different meanings and ramications need to be thoroughly claried
(LW 2: 287).
Having briey outlined the development in Deweys thinking about
democracy by comparing two of his major works, I would like to elaborate on the theme by referring to the larger corpus of Deweys works
in the early, middle, and later periods to show that throughout his life,
Dewey continuously revised and reconstructed his conception of democracy in light of new experiences, new circumstances, and new challenges.
I also show that Deweys visit to China marks an important turning point
in his long and arduous journey toward an inspiring vision of democracy that is political as well as ethical, local as well as global. My central
contention is that his encounter with China reinforced his belief in the
essential value of community life for democracy.
Before I start the discussion, I would like to acknowledge the important fact that the differentiation between democracy as government and
as way of life had been consistently present throughout Deweys voluminous writings, including his early essays. For instance, in The Ethics of
Democracy (1888), Dewey argued that to conceive of democracy merely
as a form of government is like saying that home is more or less [a]
geometrical arrangement of bricks and mortar. Democracy is a form
of government only because it is a form of moral and spiritual association (EW 1: 240). Despite this caveat, the distinction was most clearly

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and thoroughly expounded in The Public and Its Problems, the signicance
of which should not be overlooked.
In Deweys 1927 rendition of democracy as the idea of community life,
one perceives an unprecedented concreteness and clarity of thought, compared with his earlier remarks about democracy, which were relatively abstract. In The Ethics of Democracy Dewey wrote, Democracy approaches
most nearly the ideal of all social organization; that in which the individual
and society are organic to each other. As noted, in Democracy and Education,
Dewey dened democracy as a mode of associated living, of conjoint communicated experience (MW 9: 93). In Reconstruction in Philosophy, Dewey
interpreted the moral meaning of democracy as suggesting that the
supreme test of all political institutions and industrial arrangements shall
be the contribution they make to the all-around growth of every member of
society (MW 12: 186). In The Public and Its Problems, Dewey pinned down
the meaning of democracy as ideal community life: the clear consciousness of a communal life, in all its manifestations, constitutes the idea of democracy (LW 2: 328). Dewey further interpreted the meanings of fraternity,
liberty, and equality in connection with communal life.
Apart from the apparent concreteness in his 1927 rendition of democracy, the slight change of emphasis in wording from associative-communicative living to communal life is itself revealing. Communal life better
captures the emotional and aesthetic dimensions of human association
and interaction needed to sustain a genuine democracy. This is to say that
a genuine democratic way of life is impossible without a sense of togetherness and oneness experienced and appreciated by its participants. Even
though Deweys commitment to the importance of community life was
already present in his early writings, the question arises why Dewey did
not link the idea of democracy directly with the idea of community until
he wrote The Public and Its Problems. Let us turn to his experiences in China
to illuminate our answers.
We may start by considering Deweys exposure to Chinese social life
and political psychology. As he described:
The actual government of China was a system of nicely calculated
personal and group pressures and pulls, exactions and squeezes,
neatly balanced against one another, of assertions and yieldings, of
experiments to see how far a certain demand could be forced, and
of yielding when the exorbitance of the demand called out an equal
counter-pressure. Long before the time of Sir Isaac Newton, China
worked out a demonstration in the eld of politics, of the law that action and reaction are equal and in opposite directions. It exemplied
the working of the principle in every aspect of human association.
(MW 11: 219)

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Dewey admired the Chinese social system and said that it implies a high
state of civilization and produces civilized persons almost automatically
(MW 11: 220). As he explained, the essence of civility is the ability to live
consciously along with others, aware of their expectations, demands and
rights, of the pressure they can put upon one, while also conscious of just
how far one can go in response in exerting pressure upon others. Dewey
praised the Chinese for guring out all the complex elements of the social equation with unparalleled exactness. He claimed, Their social
calculus, integral and differential, exceeded anything elsewhere in existence (MW 11: 220).
In addition, Dewey was also impressed by the law-abidingness of the
Chinese people, despite the absence of a sound legal system. He wrote:
If you read the books written about China, you nd the Chinese often
spoken of as the most law-abiding people in the world. Struck by
this fact, the traveler often neglects to go behind it. He fails to note
that this law-abidingness constantly shows itself in contempt for everything that we in the West associate with law, that it goes on largely
without courts, without legal and judicial forms and ofcers; that, in
fact, the Chinese regularly do what the West regards as the essence of
lawlessnessenforce the law through private agencies and arrangements. In many things the one who is regarded as breaking the real
law, the controlling custom, is the one who appeals to the lawthat
is, to governmental agencies and ofcers. (MW 12: 41)

As Dewey further commented, To western eyes, accustomed to the forms

of regular hearings and trials, such a method seems lawless. In China,
however, the moral sense of the community would have been shocked
by a purely legal treatment (MW 12: 42). Dewey understood this seeming absence of public law as meaning that troubles of importance are
regarded as between groups, and to be settled between them and by their
own initiative (MW 12: 43). Obviously, Dewey did not approve of complete reliance on the legal system to maintain social harmony. Instead,
he preferred moral persuasion in the natural setting of communal life. In
China, where the sphere of discretion will always be large in contrast
with that of set forms, Western legalism, as Dewey said, will be shortcircuited. When commenting on a new trend in China toward establishing Western systems of law, Dewey actually hoped that China would not
make the complete surrender to legalism and formalism that western
nations have donewhich would be one of the contributions of China
to the world (MW 12: 47).
Moreover, what impressed Dewey the most about the Chinese is their
community of life. As he commented:

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What the Chinese abundantly possess is community of life, a sense of

unity of civilization, of immemorial continuity of customs and ideals.
The consciousness of a unity of pattern woven through the whole
fabric of their existence never leaves them. To be a Chinese is not to
be of a certain race nor to yield allegiance to a certain national state. It
is to share with countless millions of others in certain ways of feeling
and thinking, fraught with innumerable memories and expectations
because of long-established modes of adjustment and intercourse.
(MW 11: 223)

The sense of community life brought about by shared culture struck

Dewey as a marvelous achievement. In the example of the Chinese,
Dewey saw that the solidarity of shared culture itself, independent of
a strong central state or effective political machinery, has the power to
unite its people and to cultivate a sense of community, despite differences
in ethnicity and religion.
The Chinese sense of connection to each other, as opposed to independence and detachment from one another, impressed Dewey greatly.
In his constant ght against the rugged individualism in the Western
intellectual tradition, Dewey aimed to promote a more community-oriented culture in which people would pride themselves not only in being
autonomous individuals, but also in being distinctive members of a community. This is a culture in which people embrace interpersonal interaction and communication as providing opportunities for intellectual and
moral growth, rather than as obstructing possibilities for self-realization.
Dewey understood the fact that as a nation composed of people from all
over the world, the United States was faced with a unique challenge to
establish a sense of cultural solidarity and social unity, which is intellectually, emotionally, and morally sustained, rather than politically imposed. Deweys philosophy, especially in the late 1920s, can be seen as
an attempt to direct Americans thinking about democracy toward this
vision. His direct exposure to Chinese culture, as it was embodied in the
day-to-day living of the masses, deepened his understanding of the fundamental value of communal life, which was not abundantly expressed
nor widely acknowledged in the predominantly individualistic culture of
the modern West.
To debunk the myth of an autonomous, presocial self, Dewey insisted
that everything which is distinctively human is learned, not native (LW
2: 331). The sense of self, rather than arriving at birth, is to be gradually
developed in the immediate family and the surrounding community to
which one is born. Unfortunately, the dominant conception of the self as
a product rather than a process represents a gross distortion of the human
condition. To push the trend of thinking more toward communitarian

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perspectives, Dewey suggested that we emphasize the traits of human

association and communication that are distinctively human, those by
which each acts, in so far as the connection is known, in view of the
connection to others. Interconnectedness, rather than independence, is
the keynote of a conscious moral life. Even though individuals still do
the thinking, desiring and purposing, what they think and desire is the
consequences of their behavior upon that of others and that of others
upon themselves (LW 2: 250).
In fact, even though our habits, beliefs, interests, and values are individually owned, they are largely shaped by interpersonal contacts, knowingly or unknowingly. I visited a local museum in a small Midwestern
town with a special exhibition displaying the private collections of neighborhood schoolchildren. Each display window had a personal letter written by the collector to explain how he or she started the collection. Most
of them wrote that their interests in collecting travel souvenirs, shing
equipment, or even the caps of milk containers came from the inuence
of family members, who either started the collection or encouraged them
to do so and helped them along the way. This example illustrates the inevitable social origins of our personal interests, habits, and values that
fundamentally make up who we areeven though we are ultimately
individual and unique. As Dewey put it succinctly, for beings who observe and think, and whose ideas are absorbed by impulses and become
sentiments and interests, we is inevitable as I (LW 2: 330).
Indeed, whether we like it or not, we are invariably interconnected
and interdependent, and the more we are aware of the fact and attend
to it, the more we are able to live a moral life. For Dewey, human interconnection is not a shackle to escape. On the contrary, he accepts the
fact, afrms it, and embraces it because it furnishes the ground for development and growth. Unlike those who regard human sociality as an
obstacle to individual autonomy, Dewey celebrates personal uniqueness
as growing out of the context of social interaction and communication.
Dewey once commented negatively about the notion of self-reliance,
noting there is always a danger that increased personal independence
will decrease the social capacity of an individual. As he cautioned, in
making him more self-reliant, it may make him more self-sufcient; it
may lead to aloofness and indifference. It often makes an individual so
insensitive in his relations to others as to develop an illusion of being really able to stand and act alone. Dewey called this an unnamed form
of insanity which is responsible for a large part of the remediable suffering of the world (MW 9: 49).
The communal feature of Chinese life convinced Dewey that China
possessed the foundation on which Chinese democracy was to be based.
As far as Chinas current crisis and future were concerned, he suggested

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that the road to transformation and modernization be based on a furthering of its indigenous democratic practices and spirit rather than direct
copying of Western democracy.
The promise of Chinas rebirth into full membership in the modern
world is found in its democratic habits of life and thought, provided
we add to the statement another: the peculiar quality of this democracy also forms the strongest obstacle to the making over of China in
its confrontation by a waiting, restless and greedy world. For while
China is morally and intellectually a democracy of a paternalistic
type, she lacks the specic organs by which alone a democracy can
effectively sustain itself either internally or internationally. China is
in a dilemma whose seriousness can hardly be exaggerated. Her habitual decentralization, her centrifugal localisms, operate against her
becoming a nationalistic entity with the institutions of public revenue, unitary public order, defense, legislation and diplomacy that are
imperatively needed. Yet her deepest traditions, her most established
ways of feeling and thinking, her essential democracy, cluster about
the local units, the village and its neighbors. (MW 11: 212)

Dewey criticized the prevailing tendency in Western thought that conned itself to the more obvious, the more structural, factors of the problem. These problems such as the adjustment of the power and authority of the central government to that of local and regional governments,
the relations of the executive and legislative forces in the government,
the revision of legal procedure and law to eliminate arbitrariness and
personal discretionall of these, Dewey argued, were peripheral to the
real problem of China. The real problem is how the democratic spirit
historically manifest in the absence of classes, the prevalence of social
and civil equality, the control of individuals and groups by moral rather
than physical forcethat is, by instruction, advice, and public opinion
rather than denitive legal methodscan nd an organized expression
of itself (LW 2: 21213).
To borrow Deweys own wording in The Public and Its Problems,
which bears some similarity to what he wrote here, the real problem
of China is that its inchoate, democratic public needs to identify and
organize itself. Deweys hope for Young China is that in its vigorous
attempt to break with the past to transform itself, it will preserve its
essential democracy, which he once described as social (MW 13: 230).
Chinese social and communal lifedespite its lack of a democratic
governmentpoints to the potentiality for a social form of democracy
to stimulate political change. Deweys visit to China gave him the opportunity to cast aside the political baggage of the West and to witness

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an inchoate form of democracy in the absence of all the political, legal

contrivances so endearing to the Western mind. This experience highlighted the fundamental contribution of community life to creating and
sustaining democracy. In his response to the criticisms Lippmann raised
against political democracy, Dewey felt compelled to press on the issue
of the distinction between democracy as government and as community
life, and accordingly, to reconstruct his conception of democracy, as informed by his experiences in China.
The two meanings of democracy are denitely related because the
idea remains barren and empty save as it is incarnated in human relationshipwhich, of course, includes the way people select government
ofcials to represent their interests. (LW 2: 325). In making the differentiation, Dewey did not mean to establish an arbitrary dualism he fought
his entire life. Nonetheless, the two phases of democracy needed to be
separated in discussion in that the idea of democracy is a wider and
fuller idea than can be exemplied in the state even at its best. As J.
Tiles aptly contends, Dewey took democracy to encompass a form of
culture.9 Politics is only one aspect of culture, albeit an important one.
For democracy to become an all-encompassing culture, it must affect all
modes of human association. For all modes of human association to be affected, the consolidation of local communities is the surer road to success.
In a ourishing, functioning community, political problems are a part of
the daily process of learning to live along with others, to work with others, and to solve problems together.
In his intellectual biography of Dewey, Robert Westbrook notes that
a familiar impatience crept into Deweys discussion of the institutions of
political democracy in The Public and Its Problems, as if somehow consideration of such matters was really beside the point or at least not properly at
the heart of a democratic philosophy.10 Westbrooks observation captures
Deweys overall feeling that U.S. democracy had been too externalized
and politicized and that it needed to be more internalized and socialized.
Even though the social conditions in U.S. society at the time undoubtedly
propelled Dewey to prioritize social over political democracy, Deweys
experiences in China helped reinforce his essential faith in democracy as
a form of culture that fosters community life. This faith, once tested and
consolidated, remained consistent throughout his later career.
In Liberalism and Social Action (1935), Dewey identied the problem
of democracy as that of [forming] social organization, extending to all
the areas and ways of living, in which the powers of individuals shall
not be merely released from mechanical external constraint but shall be
fed, sustained and directed (LW 11: 25). He meant that the individual
capacities and powers required for democracy should be internally
maintained by the nutrients of a ourishing, communal life. In Freedom

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and Culture (1939), Dewey noted again this difference between a society,
in the sense of an association, and a community. He argued that associations are basic conditions for the existence of a community, but a
community adds the function of communication in which emotions and
ideas are shared as well as joint undertaking engaged in (LW 13: 176).
In this book, Dewey quoted a passage from his earlier The Public and Its
Problems, reminding his readers again that democracy must begin at the
neighborly community.
Dewey summed up his faith in democracy in a short essay, Creative
DemocracyThe Task before Us (1939), written for his eightieth birthday celebration. Dewey expressed his conviction that democracy is a
personal, an individual, way of life (LW 14: 226). Dewey urged us to
get rid of the habit of thinking of democracy as something institutional
and external and to acquire the habit of treating it as a way of personal
life to realize democracy as a moral ideal (LW 14: 228). Democracy as
a way of life signies the possession and continual use of certain attitudes, forming personal character and determining desire and purpose in
all the relations of life, and thus it cannot be separated from individual
attitudes so deep-seated as to constitute character (LW 14: 226). This is
to say that the hope of realizing democracy as a commonplace of living
depends on the character of each member in society. Deweys eloquent
description of a democratic character is worth quoting at length:
[D]emocracy as a way of life is controlled by personal faith in personal day-by-day working together with others. Democracy is the belief that even when needs and ends or consequences are different for
each individual, the habit of amicable cooperationwhich may include, as in sport, rivalry and competitionis itself a priceless addition to life. To take as far as possible every conict which arisesand
they are bound to ariseout of the atmosphere and medium of force,
of violence as a means of settlement into that of discussion and of
intelligence is to treat those who disagreeeven profoundlywith
us as those from whom we may learn, and in so far, as friends. . . . To
cooperate by giving differences a chance to show themselves because
of the belief that the expression of difference is not only a right of the
other persons [sic] but is a means of enriching ones own life-experience, is inherent in the democratic personal way of life. (LW 14: 228)

By insisting that the democratic way of life is ultimately personal, Dewey

did not mean that it is a life independent of social ties or a life in isolation from others. Life in isolation is rather a danger to be avoided because
it hampers the development of a democratic, moral character. As Dewey
contended in Ethics (1932), The kind of self formed through action faithful

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to relations with others will be a fuller and broader self than one cultivated
in isolation from or in opposition to the purposes and needs of others (LW
7: 302). The democratic character Dewey envisioned can be developed
and cultivated only through the ordinary rhythms of a communal life. In
fact, the emphasis in democracy as constituted in personal, moral character echoes what Dewey wrote in his 1888 essay, The Ethics of Democracy, in which he claimed that democracy means that personality is the
rst and nal realityexcept that his earlier statement was relatively
abstract and difcult to comprehend in a world wholly preoccupied with
political democracy (EW 1: 240).
Translated into a philosophical position, democracy as a way of life is
grounded in the faith that the process of experience is capable of being
educative, [and] faith in democracy is all one with faith in experience and
education (LW 14: 229). To borrow the terminology from Democracy and
Education, faith in experience and education means faith in education as
growth, which signies a process of living that has no end beyond itself, but is its own end of continual reorganizing, reconstructing, transforming (MW 9: 54). Democracy as a moral ideal is determined by what
each of us learns from our experiences of living among others and with
otherswith those we love or hate and with whom we agree or disagree,
with those we spend a lifetime or meet only once. The hope of democracy
as a moral ideal lies in the personal character of the people themselves
in whether they are cooperative or competitive, amicable or antagonistic,
inquiring or dogmatic, open-minded or narrow-minded.
To lead a democratic way of life is an art. As Sor-hoon Tan notes, the
connection of Deweys social philosophy and his aesthetics has often been
neglected.11 In Art as Experience (1934), Dewey explained how we are able
to transform our ordinary experiences in the normal process of living into
consummatory, aesthetic experiences that make life worth living. The
democratic character Dewey envisages requires the courage not to avoid
interpersonal problems or social disputes due to differences of opinion and
conicts of interest, but to accept them as natural rhythms of life, like the
ebbing and owing of the sea. As Dewey said, we envisage with pleasure Nirvana and a uniform heavenly bliss only because they are projected
upon the background of our present world of stress and conict. He
warned, Where everything is already complete, there is no fulllment.
Because the actual world in which we live is a combination of movement
and culmination, of breaks and re-unions, the experience of a living creature is capable of esthetic quality (LW 10: 22). In the process of losing and
reestablishing harmony with our surroundings, we are living the most intense and worthwhile life, Dewey said. The art of democratic living lies in
the joint undertaking to transform disorderly experiences into harmonious
ones that allow every participant involved the opportunity to grow. The

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115

kind of creative intelligence and aesthetic sensibility required to turn narrowness into openness, shallowness into depth, and conict into harmony,
has to be developed through the process of living a conscious, mindful life.
Consummatory, aesthetic experiences are conducive to personal happiness
and social well-being and are attainable at all levels of human interaction
throughout all stages of lifeif ones mind and heart are set for learning.
This learning was clearly exemplied in the life of Dewey himself.
When Dewey was writing in the 1930s, he lamented, much of the
intimate social connection is lost in the impersonality of a world market
(LW 10: 15). In todays technological culture, the problem is even worse.
Although new information technologies have created expedient ways
of association and communication, they do not guarantee genuine and
meaningful exchange of ideas and feelings among people. In fact, one
can easily create an illusory safe haven in the world of the Internet, avoiding contact with real people, escaping from interpersonal problems, and
leading a life utterly alientated from others. Consequently, families scatter and decline; communities dissolve. Economic prosperity and political
stability have allowed many of us to become our own persons and to lead
our own lives free from political oppression or religious prosecution. But
what kind of persons we become and what kind of lives we choose to
lead depend largely on the culture in which we live. The question is: Is
our culture conducive or inimical to democracy?
Having elaborated on the development in Deweys thinking about
democracy as a moral ideal, I would like to return to the theme of Deweys visit to China and the signicance of this encounter. In some sense,
Deweys shift of emphasis from democracy as government to democracy
as culture represents a Copernican revolution in Western political thinking. In his attempt to clarify the relationship between politics and culture, Dewey was reversing a common assumption about the progress of
civilization: namely, that well-designed political machinery will lead to a
democratic form of culture. Rather, Dewey wanted to argue that the creation of democracy as a form of culture and as a personal way of life will
gradually lead to better answers to the question of political governance.
In a nutshell, the American philosopher of democracy traveled to China
and was reinforced in his belief that democracy is rst and foremost an
all-encompassing culture. Perhaps Dewey could not have reached this
conclusion or felt so condent about it if he had not encountered China.

Mapping Out a Future for Confucian Democracy

Hearing Dewey describe China as democraticeven if this only means
that it possesses the cultural and social preconditions for democracy
may be disorienting and disconcerting. The statement may shake the

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presumptions of Western political leaders who had been, and are still, trying to impose democracy on nations that do not embrace Western liberalism. The presumed opposition between Chinese authoritarianism and
Western liberalism is so deeply ingrained in the popular conceptions of
the Western world that imagining a democratic China is difcult. To recognize and acknowledge Chinas indigenous form of democracy, which
operates under a very different trajectory than that in the West, requires
an open mind and a far-reaching insight. The particular direction of
Chinas democracy deserves a more precise label than what Dewey only
vaguely calls social democracy, namely, Confucian democracy.
Initially the notion of Confucian democracy may seem like a contradiction in terms, as Harvard professor Samuel Huntington claimed;
Huntington thinks that the Confucian emphasis on the group over the
individual, authority over liberty, and responsibility over rights, along
with its lack of a tradition of rights against the state, make traditional
Confucianism either undemocratic or antidemocratic.12 However, if we
try to distinguish Confucian political regimes from Confucian ways of life
as the scholar of Confucianism Tu Wei-ming suggests, we can move from
political Confucianism as the remnant of the past to a future of Confucianism that is full of hope and constructive possibilities.13 For a brighter
future, we must abandon the great meta-narrative of enlightenment and
modernity as nothing more than a provincial myth.14 We should remember that democratic institutions in Europe emerged from historically
tyrannical, hierarchical, and authoritarian cultures. As Edward Friedman
notes, unless one can show that Confucian culture foster[s] obstacles to
democracy greater than those undergirded [by] Robespierre, Mussolini,
Franco, and Hitler, one has no reason to deny the possibility of Confucian democracy in China.
However, ethnocentric pride and self-complacency make it easy to
insist on a single, liberal model of democracy and to disregard Asianstyle democracy as a mytha form of soft authoritarianism that has not
yet completed the transition to democracy.15 In fact, no singular democracy exists even in the West, as Friedman reminds us. Where democracy
has traveled, we have seen successful cases of creative borrowing. In
every locale (and in every theoretical construct), people struggle to translate a traveling theory to accommodate their own ongoing experiences,
imperatives, and tensions. The momentary synthesis and the transitory
uniqueness are ubiquitous. Actually, with regard to principles and processes of democratization, the divide between the West and the non-West
is only expedient. As Friedman contends, All cultures can accommodate
democracy. Each can learn from all the rest because each is unique at the
same time all have much in common. Each nation must craft a democracy
to suit its own historical and societal particulars.16

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117

To craft a democracy to suit the Confucian culture of China, David Hall and Roger Ames have propagated and promoted the notion of
Confucian democracy in their pioneering work, Democracy of the Dead:
Dewey, Confucius and the Hope of Democracy for China (1999). In this book,
they remind readers, China has always been, and will continue to be, a
communitarian society and that accommodating the legitimate desires of
the Chinese people requires the promotion of a communitarian form of
democracy seriously at odds with the liberal model that presently dominates Western democracies. They argue that Deweys vision of democracy as ideal community life is best suited to engage the realities and
Chinese social practice and to support the realization of a Confucian democracy in China.17 They further contend that Confucian democracy
is more congenial to Deweys understanding than typical liberal models of democracy. Indeed, for the idea of Confucian democracy to gain
recognition, we need to alter our conception of democracy and clarify
our misunderstandings about Confucianism. In Confucian Democracy: A
Deweyan Reconstruction (2003), Sor-hoon Tan examines the commonalities
between classical Confucianism and Deweyan pragmatism. She holds
that a synthesis of their philosophies can offer an alternative to Western
liberal models of democracy. Indeed, this new scholarship on Dewey and
Confucius has aroused a considerable degree of scholarly attention and
interest. The following discusses the implications of my work for Confucian democracy, which will redirect our thinking about the future of democracy for both China and the United States and facilitate a thoughtful
and mutually respectful dialogue between the two nations.
To begin with, some of Deweys own observations and appraisals of
Chinese society can give credence to the legitimacy of a communitarian
form of democracy for China. Take, for example, the fact that Dewey perceived great merit in the way Chinese traditionally resolve social conictnamely, not through public laws but through personal initiatives
and social rituals. As noted, Dewey found that Western legal methods of
dispute resolution offended Chinese sensibilities. Inherent in the Chinese
rejection of such legal remedies is a fundamental respect for moral cultivation. Dewey described this particular characteristic of Chinese society
as embodying a democratic spirit and hoped that the Chinese would preserve their cultural strength while adapting to modern requirements of
legalismand this, he added, would be one of Chinas contributions to
the world (MW 12: 47).
Deweys endorsement marks an example of his divergence from
rights-based liberalism and of his afnities with Confucianism. Liberalism sanctions reliance on impersonal government agencies to protect
rights and enforce justice. However, Deweys democratic theory values
the immediate and ongoing process of interpersonal communication,

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negotiation, and moral persuasion. Through this interactive process,

people are more likely to learn to understand the needs and perspectives of others, to modify their actions according to perceived consequences for others, and to pursue interests and goals held in common.
By contrast, the legal system does not aim to enhance communication
and understanding. Serving sentences and paying nes do not necessarily make people take responsibility or feel remorse about their acts.
Law uses coercion and fear but does not appeal to or foster loftier feelings and aspirations. For both Dewey and Confucius, genuine consensus should be achieved at the aesthetic and practical level not merely
through claims of reason.18
The Chinese attitude toward the law reects an inuence of Confuciuss insistence on the priority of morality over law. As Tan says, Confucius was distrustful of relying on what he called guiding the people by
edict, and keeping them in line with punishmentsthat is, depending
on specic lawsas a grounding for social order, because law does not
respect the need for virtue.19 Confucius understood that one cannot rely
on the rule of law to bring about a well-ordered and harmonious community and that the key to a ourishing community lies in educating
people through rituals rather than punishing them through laws. Apart
from these philosophical implications, the difference in the conception of
law has a deeper historical root. As Hall and Amess analysis shows, law
develops in Confucian China to articulate administrative duties and to
overcome deciencies of ritual in maintaining social stability, whereas
in the West, law originates as a response to despotic power and functions to protect the individual citizen against the state, and against the
tyranny of the majority. Therefore, law is important in the West because
it aims to protect individual rights, whereas in the Confucian social system, resorting to law is denigrated as a sign of the failure of ritual to
achieve social harmonyespecially a moral failure.20
Like Dewey, Confucius values the educative function of community
life and is committed to the fundamental importance of proximate, selfinvested relationships.21 As Hall and Ames point out, Confucius sees a
thriving, self-governing community, achieved through mediating institutions such as family and neighborhood, as the optimum guarantee of a
personal liberty and the best opportunity for full participation in a shared
vision of community. The Confucian model of democracy places a high
premium on the goal of self-ordering and hence avoids fear and coercion
as means of sustaining social order. Instead, it depends upon the powerful informal pressures of shame (chi) and the personalization of deferential roles and relations (li) as its motive forces.22 In this respect, Chinese
communities requires a minimum of formally constituted government
because the same communal harmony that denes and dispenses order

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119

at the most immediate level is relied upon to focus authoritative consensus.23 During his stay in China, Dewey was quite impressed by the Confucian social system, saying that it represented a Newtonian achievement in the course of human history. As noted earlier, he described it
as a highly calibrated system of countervailing social pressures (MW 11:
220). Dewey clearly valued this balanced process of interpersonal push
and pull as representing a clear consciousness of communal life. What he
had witnessed may be regarded as the success of the Confucian project to
create a community as an extended family, as Hall and Ames put it.24
Most important, Deweys social conception of the person makes him
more Confucian than liberal. Typical liberal philosophers insist on the
concept of the atomized individual, self-dening and self-governing.
Dewey disagrees with this notion of individuality and would agree with
Tan that human existence is an embedded phenomenon, depending
more on traditional, communal, and inherited meanings than individualistic ones.25 To become fully human means being fully situated in
ones natural, social, and cultural surroundings; it involves beneting
and being beneted by membership in a world of reciprocal loyalties and
obligations which stimulate one, and help to dene ones own worth.26
This is a model of a human coming into being rather than simply being.
What classical Confucianism presents is a conception of personhood as a
contingent process. As Henry Rosemont observes, for the early Confucians there can be no me in isolation, to be considered abstractly: I am
the totality of the roles I live in relation to specic others. In some ways,
saying I play or perform these roles is misleading; the truth is that
I am my roles.27 However, to say that our individuality is largely conferred on us, as we contribute to conferring it on others, is not to deny the
uniqueness of every individual. On the contrary, it is to afrm the very
uniqueness of each person because no two persons can have the same
experiences throughout their lives; even if they theoretically can, they do
not perceive the same experiences the same way.
The processive notion of person that denes Confucianism at its core
can mitigate the effects of communal hierarchy.28 Both the person and the
community in classical Confucianism are horizontal concepts. Russell
Fox argues, Through ritual activity, everyone holds to their roles, and
everyone, in different times and places, has the potential to show forth,
through their participation in community activities, the sort of authority
which binds the community together. He adds, The fact that Confucianism has over the centuries supported hierarchical governments that
have ignored this ethical and moral perspective is tragic and beside the
point of what Confucius and his disciples actually wrote.29 In fact, a
Confucian community is relatively decentralized and makes few demands; its leaders, however arrived at, are to be concerned with their

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moral and ritual roles, not the particular activities of every member of
the community.30 The Confucian notion of authority is always moral
and aesthetic. The authority of the ruler derives from following the example of virtue as rule is exercised.31
Tan further makes the argument that an ideal Confucian community
sanctions a differentiated but not hierarchical order. As she explains,
this is not to deny that ranking . . . is part of the differentiation required
in such a community. What it denies is that such ranking has to be so
totalistic that if one is superior, one is superior always and in all things.
Moreover, this ranking does not have to be so inexible that one is born
into a xed place in the rigid social order and must live ones life as prescribed by ones position with no possibility of change.32 Despite differences in ranking, everyone in a Confucian democracy is unique and
equal. The democratic notion of equality is not to be understood mathematicallyeveryone having the same things or having the same amount
of somethingbut rather as a qualitative concept, namely, the equality
of opportunity for growth, as Tan aptly suggests.33
Hall and Ames have written that democracy, as the ideal of community life, follows different rhythms and time schedules in different cultural environments . . . . [W]ere we to look at China with John Deweys
democracy in mind, our vision might be transformed.34 Because many
of the claims they make about the commonalities between Confucianism
and Deweys vision of democracy are actually in keeping with Deweys
own observations and appraisals of China, the case that Deweys own
vision was inuenced by his encounter with China is strengthened. For
this reason, Hall and Ames may be quite right in concluding, in any
future engagements, it may well be the inuence of China that brings the
United States and other North Atlantic democracies closer to Deweys
democratic vision.35

chapter 6

CONTINUING THE DIALOGUE ON

DEWEY AND CHINA

The nal chapter is devoted to promoting a continuing dialogue on

Dewey and China. Before I offer suggestions for future research, let me recapitulate the signicance of my study. First, it is a historical recounting of
Deweys visit to China from his own perspectives. The existing literature
that studies a small group of Deweys disciples and their failed attempts
at reform seriously misrepresents Dewey. His own intention to learn is
ignored, and his mature thoughts are never considered. By focusing on
what happened to Dewey in China, my account has lled a large gap in
our understanding of the story.
On another level, my book is a detailed analysis of the intriguing
dynamics involved in the encounter between Dewey and modern Chinese intellectuals. By examining their critical responses to Dewey, my
study reveals that their own vexed interests largely determined how they
perceived and appropriated Deweys ideas. By exploring what Dewey
learned in China, I show that the intellectual exchange was not a oneway street. Deweys experiences in China helped him better understand
international politics and enabled him to review his social and political
philosophy in a fresh light.
Finally, my book combines biography with philosophy, providing a
rare glimpse of Dewey enacting his own ideashis pragmatic sensibilities and democratic ideals that were often expressed only abstractly. My
study also helps us understand an important tendency in Deweys later
philosophy, namely, his growing sensitivity to the role of culture in shaping human conduct and institutions. His learning about Chinese society
121

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and culture contributed to an expansion of his philosophyhitherto reecting only Western examples and experiences. Deweys visit to Japan
and China, along with his subsequent international travels, had transformed him from a U.S. philosopher into a transnational one.
Dewey was obviously thinking ahead of his time. Even though he
was never a great prophet, he was a remarkable philosopher whose concerns and ideas still remain relevant and important. His appreciation for
the latent roots of democracy in Chinese culture is especially illuminating for those who want to make the idea of democracy more responsive
to cultural variations. Deweys intellectual effort to understand a foreign
culture on its own terms was exemplary. If political leaders of the world
could have the humility and sense of perspective that Dewey demonstrates, and if their citizens would appreciate knowing other cultures as
enriching their own, the process of globalization in the twenty-rst century would be more peaceful and rewarding for all.
I hope to open new dimensions for future research on Dewey and
China. Studying the link between Deweys later philosophy and his encounter with China may be worthwhile. One may examine Deweys later
works from the standpoint of his experiences in China and his encounter with Chinese intellectuals. My book focused on The Public and Its
Problems. Deweys other works, such as Human Nature and Conduct (1922),
Experience and Nature (1925), or Art as Experience (1934), are also worth investigating. Apart from his social and political philosophy, other areas in
Deweys thinking, such as metaphysics, epistemology, or aesthetics, may
also reect the inuence of this cross-cultural exchange.
On the other hand, one may reinvestigate Deweys relationships
with his Chinese disciples, such as Hu Shih, Tao Xingzhi, and Feng Youlan. Deweys relationship with Hu was so complex that it deserves a
study of its own. Previous studies often assumed that Hu was a legitimate spokesman for Deweyan pragmatism; I challenge this assumption
and call for further research on the topic, which may yield important
implications for contemporary studies in pragmatism. Deweys relationship with Tao Xingzhi also presents an interesting case study. In my view,
Taos educational work in China represented a more authentic application of Deweys educational theories, even though he claimed to have
rejected Dewey when proposing his own theory of teaching, learning
and reective acting.1
Moreover, scholarship has neglected Deweys relationship with Feng
Youlan, known for his scholarly work in Chinese philosophy.2 Few knew
that Feng was Deweys student. Inuenced by Deweys huge reputation
in China, Feng went to Columbia University to study philosophy in late
1919. Inspired by Deweys comment that China could be understood
only on its own terms, Feng conducted a philosophical inquiry into why

Continuing the Dialogue

123

China had not developed science. In his essay, Feng contended that China
lacked science because Chinese philosophers had always taught people
to search for happiness within themselves, not in the outside world.3
Fengs dissertation, which Dewey supervised and Feng completed in
1923, is particularly worth our attention because it may have contributed
to Deweys revived interest in metaphysics in the early 1920s. According
to Westbrook, Dewey surprisingly returned to metaphysics in Experience and Nature (1925) after badmouthing it since the early 1890s.4
In his dissertation A Comparative Study of Life Ideals, Feng examined the themes of man versus nature and of good versus evil in various philosophical schools of the East and the West.5 Feng described the
highest Confucian ideal as not simply the realm of nature or the realm
of human action, but a unity of both.6 In Experience and Nature, Dewey
argued for the unity of human experience and nature, contending that
experience is of and as well as in nature.7 Even though Deweys denunciation of dualism had been the benchmark of his thinking, it is reasonable to speculate that his exposure to Chinese philosophy through Feng
may have helped explain his renewed interest in metaphysics.
Deweys relationships with other Chinese intellectuals merit attention, such as that with Liang Shuming. As I mentioned in chapter three,
Liang was a traditionalist who attempted to revive the enduring ideals in
Confucianism while adapting them to meet Chinas need for modernization. Liang had read and valued Deweys philosophy of education very
highly. In his 1934 review of Deweys Democracy and Education, Liang said,
[Deweys theory of education] is marvelous. In his rendering, education encompasses everything because it connects the individual life with
the social life.8 According to Liang, Deweys penetrating understanding
about the vitality of life manifests in everything he said. Dewey embraced
the dynamic, creative, autonomous, and progressive, while rejecting the
passive, mechanical, and conservative. Liang criticized a life-negating
tendency in mainstream Western scholarship and saw Dewey as a lonely
ghter against this intellectual climate.9 If I have energy, Liang said, I
would like to ght by his side to reafrm life in Western philosophy.10 In
my opinion, Liangs insightful reading of Dewey suggests the meeting of
two great minds that transcended the barrier of language and culture.
Remer remarked in 1920 that Dewey cannot apply his own philosophy to Chinese life. It will require someone as close to Chinese thought as
he is close to American thought to do this.11 I believe that Liang Shuming
was that person. He was one of the few people who understood Deweys
messagenamely, that democracy for China had to come from within.
Liang rejected both the Russian model of communism and the European
model of democratic constitutionalism as appropriate for China because
these models could, at best, be grafted onto Chinese society. Genuine

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democracy would evolve naturally out of the lived experiences of the

people themselves.12 The problem of China, Liang wrote, is not a question of a revolutionary ght against whomever, but a question of internal
cultural transformation as a basis for national salvation.13 Liang devoted
his life to promoting and implementing his idea of rural reconstruction,
urging intellectuals to go to the countryside to mingle with the villagers
to transform the culture at the grassroots level. Dewey made similar suggestions in his articles about China; examining the extent to which their
views correspond would be interesting.
Finally, Deweys reections on the meaning of internationalism have
rich implications for contemporary ethics of globalization, which involves
issues such as the problem of cultural imperialism, the spread of democracy, the idea of national sovereignty, the authority of the United Nations, the distribution of foreign aid, and the justication for humanitarian intervention.14 Apparently, these issues have become more urgent in
our own time than in Deweys. However, realizing that ethics should not
stop at national boundaries is one thing, but determining what a global
ethic should entail is another. This is a question that demands continuous thinking and rethinking. The lessons Dewey learned in China and
the example he set before us are helpful in guiding our thoughts. Most
important, we should attempt to understand one anothers philosophies
of life to avoid the clash of civilizations. We should all endeavor to create
a genuine global community that is emotionally and intellectually sustainedthat is truly of one world.

NOTES

E
Chapter 1. Dewey and May Fourth China
1. According to Chow, the May Fourth movement covers the period
roughly from 1917, as the new thoughts and new literature movements began
to gain momentum, through 1921, when direct political control gradually replaced the appeal of intellectual reforms. Other historians have proposed to
date the beginning of the movement in 1915when feelings of national humiliation due to Japans Twenty-One Demands began to shake intellectual circlesand the end in 1923 when the science versus metaphysics controversy
subsided. Whichever time frame one adopts, one can claim that Deweys visit
to China, from May 1919 to July 1921, occurred in the midst of the movement.
Tse-tsung Chow, The May Fourth Movement: Intellectual Revolution in Modern
China (Stanford, CA: Stanford University Press, 1960), 56.
2. John S. Gregory, The West and China since 1500 (New York: Palgrave
MacMillan, 2003), 2.
3. Qtd. in Gregory, The West and China, 65.
4. Qtd. in Gregory, 74.
5. Qtd. in Gregory, 132.
6. Jonathan D. Spence, The Search for Modern China (New York: Norton,
1990), 23135.
7. Gregory, 137.
8. References to Chinese names in the text will appear as surnames rst.
In the example of Hu Shih, Hu is the surname and Shih is the given name.
9. Jay Martin, The Education of John Dewey: A Biography (New York: Columbia University Press, 2002).
10. John Dewey to Dewey children, Tokyo, 13 March 1919, The Correspondence of John Dewey [CD-ROM], no. 03882 (Charlottesville, VA: InteLex, 2002).
All subsequent letters by and to Dewey are cited from this collection and will be
abbreviated as Correspondence.
11. John Dewey to Dewey children, Kyoto, 15 April 1919, Correspondence,
no. 03889.
12. Martin, The Education of John Dewey, 304.
13. Qtd. in Martin, ibid.
14. John Dewey to Sabino Dewey, Kyoto, 22 April 1919, Correspondence, no.
03892.
15. John and Alice Chipman Dewey to Dewey children, Shanghai, 1 May
1919, Correspondence, no. 03898.

125

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john dewey in china

16. All references to Deweys works are to The Collected Works of John Dewey,
18821953: The Electronic Edition, ed. Larry A. Hickman (Charlottesville, VA: InteLex, 1996). EW, MW, and LW are abbreviations for The Early Works ,18811898
(5 volumes), The Middle Works, 18991924 (15 volumes), and The Later Works,
19251953 (17 volumes).
17. John Dewey to Dewey children, Beijing, 1 June 1919, Correspondence,
no. 10759.
18. Clopton and Ou give a list of changes, which culminated in the 1922
education reform decree, to illustrate Deweys inuence: educational aims reconsidered, national school system modeled on the American 63-3 plan; childcentered education adopted; new pedagogy initiated; experimental schools
multiplied; and student government encouraged. However high sounding these
achievements may seem, further research is needed to examine if the top-down
reform statues were ever widely translated into classroom practice. See Introduction to Lectures in China, 19191920, ed. and trans. Clopton Robert and
Tsuin-chen Ou (Honolulu: University Press of Hawaii, 1973), 2225.
19. Tsuin-chen Ou, Deweys Lectures and Inuence in China, in Guide to
the Works of John Dewey, ed. Ann Boydston (Carbondale: Southern Illinois University Press, 1970), 357.
20. Barry Keenan, The Dewey Experiment in China: Educational Reform and
Political Power in the Early Republic (Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press,
1977), 161.
21. Suzanne Pepper, Radicalism and Education Reform in 20th Century China
(New York: Cambridge University Press, 1996), 6062.
22. John Dewey to John Jacob Coss, Beijing, 13 January 1920, Correspondence, no. 04882.
23. Robert B. Westbrook, John Dewey and American Democracy (Ithaca, NY:
Cornell University Press, 1991), 251.
24. Alan Ryan, John Dewey and the High Tide of American Liberalism (New
York: Norton, 1995), 206.
25. Jane Dewey, Biography of John Dewey, in The Philosophy of John Dewey,
ed. Paul Arthur Schilipp (Chicago: Northwestern University Press, 1939), 42.
26. John Dewey to Nicholas Burray Butler, Shanghai, 3 May 1919, Correspondence, no. 04068.
27. Martin, 336.
28. Walter Lippmann to John Dewey, New York, 14 June 1921, Correspondence, no. 05208.
29. Ryan, John Dewey and the High Tide of American Liberalism, 223.
30. Chow, The May Fourth Movement, 327.
31. Youzhong Sun, John Dewey in China: Yesterday and Today, Transactions of the Charles S. Peirce Society 35 (1999): 84.
32. For a noted example of this new scholarship, see Hongliang Gu (
), The Misreading of Pragmatism: The Inuence of Deweys Philosophy on Modern
Chinese Philosophy (: ) (Shanghai: East
China Normal University Press, 2000). The book contains thoughtful discussions
of the differences between Hu Shih and Dewey.

Notes to Chapter 2

127

Chapter 2. Dewey as a Teacher

1. C. F. Remer, John Dewey in China, Millards Review 13 (3 July 1920): 267.
2. Yuanpei Cai (), A Speech Given at the Dinner Party of Dr. Deweys Sixtieth Birthday (60), in Dewey on China (
), ed. Yihong Shen, 32930.
3. Chongyi Feng (), Russell and China () (Beijing: Sanlian
Bookstore, 1998), 108.
4. Caroline Moorehead, Bertrand Russell: A Life (New York: Viking, 1992), 342.
5. Qtd. in Chow, The May Fourth Movement, 59.
6. Keenan, The Dewey Experiment, 37.
7. Lectures in China, 127.
8. Ibid., 239.
9. Ibid., 167.
10. Dewey, Democratic Developments in America (),
Awakening (), 21 June 1919, sec. 8. The translation is mine. Awakening is a
major supplement of the Shanghai newspaper Republic Daily ().
11. These lectures were based partly on a class Dewey taught at Columbia
University on moral and political philosophy from October 1915 to May 1916 (in
which Hu Shih enrolled) and partly on the political commentaries Dewey wrote
during the war years between 1917 and 1918. Two sets of class notes taken by
Deweys students at the seminar are available in Research in the History of Economic Thought and Methodology: Lectures by John Dewey, ed. Warren J. Samuels
and Donald F. Koch (Greenwich, CT: Jai Press, 1989).
12. Lectures in China, 50.
13. Ibid., 62.
14. Ibid., 86.
15. Ibid., 71.
16. Ibid., 80.
17. Ibid., 118.
18. Ibid., 178.
19. Ibid., 154.
20. Ibid., 184.
21. Ibid., 298.
22. Ibid., 283.
23. Walter Feinberg, review of Lectures in China, 19191920, Philosophy
East and West 25, no. 3 (1975): 366.
24. See Jiehua Li (), A List of Deweys Activities in China (
), in Dewey on China, ed. Yihong Shen, 391.
25. Hu, Introductory Note by Hu Shih, in Lectures in China, 4344.
26. John Dewey to John Jacob Coss, Nanjing, 22 April 1920, Correspondence,
no. 04884.
27. Ralph Ross, Introduction to The Middle Works of John Dewey: 18991924,
vol. 12, in MW 12: xxx.
28. Liang Qichao (), one of the sponsors of Deweys rst-year visit
in China, may have asked Dewey to introduce Bergsons thought. Liang visited

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Bergson and Eucken in his trip to Europe during the war, hoping to obtain their
advice on how to modernize China. However, he was told that the war manifested a bankruptcy of Western material civilization. After he returned, Liang
proclaimed the bankruptcy of science and urged the youth to revere their
spiritual tradition. See Chow, The May Fourth Movement, 328.
29. The summaries of Deweys individual lectures Clopton and Ou provided were very helpful. See the appendix in Lectures in China.
30. John Dewey to Dewey children, Beijing, 1 April 1920, Correspondence,
no. 03593. In the original texts of Deweys letters, apostrophes were often left
out, as in cant. When quoting Deweys letters, I will use brackets to indicate
my modications, as in [cant].
31. Dewey, Present Opportunities for the Teaching Profession (
), Morning Post (), 24 June 1921, sec. 7.
32. John Dewey to Albert C. Barnes, Beijing, 5 December 1920, Correspondence, no. 04113.
33. Ibid.
34. Lectures in China, 319.
35. Ibid., 32122.
36. Yihong Shen (), Introduction to Russell on China (), ed.
Yihong Shen (Hangzhou: Zhejiang Literature and Art, 2001), 4.
37. Feng, Russell and China, 140.
38. Russell to Colette ONiel, Beijing, 6 January 1921, The Selected Letters of
Bertrand Russell: the Public Years, 19141970, ed. Nicholas Grifn (London: Routledge, 2001), 217.
39. Qtd. in Moorehead, Bertrand Russell, 326.
40. Russell to Elizabeth Russell, Beijing, 16 February 1921, The Selected Letters, 224.
41. Dora Black wrote in a letter that everywhere we are treated like an
Emperor and Empress. See Moorehead, Bertrand Russell, 323.
42. Russell to Colette ONeil, Beijing, 21 February 1921, qtd. in Chongyi
Feng, Russell and China, 112.
43. Russell, The Bolsheviks and World Politics (), in
Russell on China, ed. Yihong Shen, 309, 314.
44. John Dewey to Albert C. Barnes, Beijing, 5 December 1920, Correspondence, no, 04113.
45. Duxiu Chen, A Letter to Mr. Russell from Duxiu (),
in Russell on China, 379.
46. Russell, Bolshevik Thoughts (), in Russell on China, 320.
47. Russell, Chinas Road to Freedom (), in Russell on
China, 327.
48. John Dewey to Dewey children, Changsha, 26 October 1920, Correspondence, no. 03946.
49. Russell to H. C. Emery, Beijing, 14 January 1921, The Selected Letters, 219.
50. John Dewey to Albert C. Barnes, Beijing, 5 December 1920, Correspondence, no. 04113.

Notes to Chapter 2

129

51. Bertrand Russell, The Problem of China (London: Allen and Unwin,
1922), 185.
52. Remer, John Dewey in China, 268.
53. Report from the Farewell Banquet for Dewey (),
Morning Post, 26 May 1921, sec. 3. The translation is mine.
54. John Dewey to Albert C. Barnes, Beijing, 5 December 1920, Correspondence, no. 04113.
55. Yu-sheng Lin, The Crisis of Chinese Consciousness: Radical Antitraditionalism in the May Fourth Era (Madison: University of Wisconsin Press, 1979), 27.
56. Clopton and Ou, Translators Note, Lectures in China, 34. In their translation of Deweys lectures into English, Clopton and Ou may have attempted to
reduce potential discrepancies and to recover what Dewey might have actually
said. For the purpose of recovery, these translations are laudable and important.
However, for the purpose of understanding Deweys reception in China, one
needs to read the Chinese texts.
57. Jim E. Tiles, Democracy as Culture, in Justice and Democracy: CrossCultural Perspectives, ed. Ron Bontekoe and Marietta Stepaniants (Honolulu:
University of Hawaii Press, 1997), 125.
58. Dewey, Democratic Developments in America. In this section of the
chapter, the translation of Chinese materials into English is mine unless otherwise stated.
59. See Westbrook, John Dewey and American Democracy, 167.
60. John Dewey to Dewey children, Beijing, 5 June 1919, Correspondence,
no. 10761.
61. Jerome Grieder, Hu Shih and the Chinese Renaissance (Cambridge, MA:
Harvard University Press, 1970), 45.
62. Xiping (), My Response to Deweys Experimentalism (
), Awakening, 27 July 1920, Commentary section.
63. John Dewey to Dewey children, Shanghai, 13 May 1919, Correspondence,
no. 10755.
64. Chow, 230.
65. John Deweys Five Major Lecture Series () (Hefai: Anhui Education Press, 1999), 114.
66. Lin, The Crisis of Chinese Consciousness, 99.
67. Scholars have disagreed as to what Hu truly meant by his proclamation
of total Westernization (). Grieder thinks that Hu intended to discredit the kind of dogged intellectual reaction, not to annihilate every vestige
of traditional Chinese culture. Lin holds that Hu urged to the Chinese to accept
the modern civilization of the West to the greatest possible extent. See Grieder,
Hu Shih and the Chinese Renaissance, 287, and Lin, 83.
68. Guangdi Mei (), Writings of Professor K. T. Mei () (Taipei:
Chinese Library, 1968), 59.
69. Chow, 282.
70. John Deweys Five Major Lecture Series, 6, emphasis added. In the Clopton
and Ous English translation, the same passage reads: The common weakness

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john dewey in china

of extreme radicalism and extreme conservatism as I have described them is

their dependence on sweeping generalizations. Lectures in China, 53.
71. Hu, More Talk of Problems and Less Talk of Isms (
), in Dewey and China (), ed. Baogui Zhang (Shijiazhuang: Hebei
Peoples Press, 2001), 186.
72. Dazhao Li (), Again on Problems versus Isms (),
in Dewey and China, ed. Baogui Zhang, 188.
73. Maurice Meisner, Li Ta-Chao and the Origin of Chinese Marxism (Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 1967), 106.
74. Grieder, 49.
75. Meisner, 108.
76. Alice Chipman Dewey to Dewey children and Sabino Dewey, Beijing, 1
June 1919, Correspondence, no. 03907.
77. John Dewey to Wendell T. Bush, Beijing, 1 August 1919, Correspondence,
no. 05019.
78. Nancy F. Sizer, John Deweys Ideas in China, 191921, Comparative
Education Review 10 (1966): 401.
79. Meisner, 1078.
80. Keenan, 12324.
81. Ibid., 161.
82. In my opinion, Hu Shih often parroted Dewey. Hus award-winning essay from the American Association for International Conciliation in 1916 was an
application of Deweys concept of force. In his essay Hu claimed, the real problem [with the world] is to seek a more economical and therefore more sufcient
way of employing force; a substitute for the present crude form and wasteful
use of force. Qtd. in Grieder, 60.
83. Lin, 93.
84. Sor-hoon Tan, Chinas Pragmatist Experiment in Democracy: Hu Shihs
Pragmatism and Deweys Inuence in China, in The Range of Pragmatism and the
Limits of Philosophy, ed. Richard Shusterman (Oxford: Blackwell, 2005), 56.
85. Grieder, 121.
86. Lin, 28.
87. Ibid., 86.
88. Vera Schwarcz, The Chinese Enlightenment: Intellectuals and the Legacy
of the May Fourth Movement of 1919 (Berkeley: University of California Press,
1986), 38.
89. Hu, The Meaning of New Thought Tide (), in A Collection
of Hu Shihs Educational Writings (), ed. Jian Bai and Yanyun Liu
(Beijing: Peoples Education Press, 1994), 108.
90. Shih Hu, John Dewey in China, in Philosophy and CultureEast and
West, ed. Charles Am Moore (Honolulu: University of Hawaii Press, 1962), 768.
91. Ibid.
92. Tan, Chinas Pragmatist Experiment, 60.
93. Ibid., Sor-hoon Tan speculates that Hu Shih was an important pragmatist and that his attempt to pragmatism as a philosophical method to

Notes to Chapter 3

131

solve human problems in China has something to teach us. For a different
perspective, see Hongliang Gu, The Misreading of Pragmatism.
94. Hus translations of Deweys lecturesespecially where Dewey commented on the student movementmay have misguided Tan to speculate that
Dewey shared Hu Shihs rather negative judgment about the students political
activism. Tan, Chinas Pragmatist Experiment, 55.
95. Ibid., 58.
96. John Dewey to John Jacob Coss, 13 January 1920, Correspondence, no.
04882.
97. John Dewey to Dewey children, Beijing, 1 April 1920, Correspondence,
no. 03593.
98. Remer, John Dewey in China, 267.
99. Ibid.
100. Clopton and Ou, Introduction to Lectures in China, 25.
101. Jane Cauvel, Deweys Message to China, in Hypatia : Essays in Classics, Comparative Literature, and Philosophy, ed. William M. Calder III, Ulrich K.
Goldsmith, and Phyllis B. Kenevan (Boulder: Colorado Associated University
Press, 1985), 228.

Chapter 3. The Reception of Dewey in China

1. Dewey once noted in his letter that many in his audience dont really understand his lectures on Types of Thinking. He estimated attendance
would gradually drop in subsequent meetings. John Dewey to Wendell T. Bush,
Beijing, 13 November 1919, Correspondence, no. 05022.
2. Keenan, The Dewey Experiment, 34.
3. Jin Zhu, Why Are Scholars Revered by the World? (
), New Education () 1 (1919): 361.
4. Kui (), Experimentalism and Scientic Life (),
Academic Lamp, 15 November 1919.
5. Qtd. in John Hersey, The Call (New York: Knopf, 1985), 334.
6. Zhixi (), Dr. Deweys School and Society (),
Renaissance () 2 (1919): 187. Zhixi is the pen name of Lo Jialun ().
7. Zhixi, Dr. Deweys Moral Principles in Education (
), Renaissance 2 (1919): 192.
8. Qianzhi Zhu (), A Manifesto against Examinations (
), Beijing University Student Weekly (), 13 (28 March 1920).
9. Jiehua Li, A List of Deweys Activities in China, 396.
10. Ibid., 377.
11. John Dewey to Dewey family, Nanjing, 11 April 1920, Correspondence,
no. 03916.
12. Boan (), The Responses to Dewey from the Educational Circle of
Hangzhou (), Academic Lamp, 23 June 1920.
13. T. D., A Critique of Deweys Lecture (), Awakening, 18
June 1920, Random Thoughts section.

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john dewey in china

14. Xiping (), My Response to Deweys Experimentalism (

), Awakening, 27 July 1920, Commentary section.
15. John Dewey to Albert C. Barnes, Peitaho, 12 September 1920, Correspondence, no. 04102.
16. John Dewey to Albert C. Barnes, Beijing, 5 December 1920, Correspondence, no. 04113.
17. Benjamin I. Schwartz, Chinese Communism and the Rise of Mao (Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 1951), 25.
18. John Dewey to Albert C. Barnes, Beijing, 12 September 1920, Correspondence, no. 04102.
19. Zhenying (), My Hope for Bertrand Russell (),
Awakening, 15 October 1920, Commentary section.
20. Fulu (), Dr. Dewey Is Gone Today (), Morning
Post, 11 July 1921, Miscellaneous Notes section. Fulu is the pen name of Sun
Fuyuan (). Sun also wrote an essay on the same day to commemorate Bertrand Russell, but he said that Russells inuence on the Chinese was not comparable to that of Dewey. See Fulu, Mr. Russell Is also Gone Today (
), Morning Post, 11 July 1921, Miscellaneous Notes section.
21. Arif Dirlik, The Origins of Chinese Communism (New York: Oxford University Press), 71.
22. Chow, The May Fourth Movement, 248.
23. Ibid., 213.
24. Grieder, Hu Shih and the Chinese Renaissance, 184.
25. Schwartz, Chinese Communism and the Rise of Mao, 19.
26. Duxiu Chen (), The Basis for the Realization of Democracy (
), in Selected Writings of Chen Duxiu (), ed. Jianshu Ren,
Tongmo Chang, and Xinzhong Wu, vol. 2 (Shanghai: Shanghai Peoples Press,
1993), 29.
27. Ibid., 2930.
28. Chow, The May Fourth Movement, 231.
29. John Dewey to Dewey children, Beijing, 10 June 1919, Correspondence,
no. 03910.
30. Chen, The Basis for the Realization of Democracy, 31
31. Chow, 232.
32. Chen, The Basis for the Realization of Democracy, 32.
33. Ibid., 35.
34. Qtd. in Schwartz, 22.
35. Dirlik, The Origins of Chinese Communism, 5354.
36. Schwartz, 23.
37. Ibid., 2122.
38. Chow, 232.
39. Dirlik, 64.
40. John Dewey to Walter S. Drysdale, Beijing, 1 December 1920, Correspondence, no. 06412.
41. John Dewey to Albert C. Barnes, Beijing, 5 December 1920, Correspondence, no. 04113.

Notes to Chapter 3

133

42. Juetian Fei (), A Critique of Deweys Social and Political Philosophy (), The Review of Reviews (), 2 (1921): 4.
43. John Dewey to Albert C. Barnes, Beitaiho, 12 September 1920, Correspondence, no. 04102.
44. Qiubai Qu (), Pragmatism and Revolutionary Philosophy (
), in Selected Writings of Qu Qiubai () (Beijing: Peoples
Press, 1985), 145.
45. Ibid., 147.
46. Ibid., 151.
47. Susanne K. Langer, qtd. in Lin, The Crisis of Chinese Consciousness, 57.
48. Qichao Liang (), Travel Impressions from Europe (),
in A Selection of Essays on the Controversy over Eastern and Western Civilizations before and after May Fourth (), ed. Song Chen (Beijing:
Xinhua, 1989), 34990.
49. Shuming Liang (), Eastern and Western Cultures and Their Philosophies () (Taipei: Commercial Press, 2002), 2.
50. Chow, 282.
51. Fenglin Mo (), A Review of Deweys Democracy and Education
(), The Critical Review ()10 (1922): 56.
52. Jiangling Wu (), A Critique of Deweys Philosophy of Education (), Academic Lamp, 22 October 1922.
53. Zhaoyin Lin (), A Few Questions about Deweys Democracy and
Education (), The Chinese Educational Circles (
) 12 (1923): 16.
54. Ibid., 5.
55. Following Dewey and Russell, Tagore was invited to visit China in 1924.
56. Juemin Gao (), The Problems of Americanized Education (
), Journal of Education () 17 (1925): 3.
57. Mouzu Wang (), The Problems of Education at the Present
Time and Their Remedies (), Critical Review
22 (1923): 1.
58. The American educator Paul Monroe (18691949) was a colleague of
Dewey at Columbia University and was invited to China in September 1921 to
help reform Chinese education.
59. Shaohan He (), The So-Called New Education (),
Educational Tide (), 1 (1919): 5152.
60. Shoying (), The Real Meaning of Pragmatism Is Not Coping-withthe-Environment-Ism (), Beijing University
Student Weekly 13 (28 March 1920).
61. Hu, Fundamental Ideas in Deweys Philosophy (),
in Dewey and China, ed. Baoqui Zhang, 16265.
62. Duxiu Chen, What Is New Education? (), in A Collection
of Educational Essays by Chen Duxiu (), ed. Xiemei Qi and Zhude
Shao (Beijing: Peoples Education Press, 1995), 28190.
63. Even though he discarded Deweys political ideas in favor of Marxism,
Chen incorporated many of Deweys educational ideas into his own thinking

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john dewey in china

about education reform. For instance, Chen took Deweys idea that schools
should reect local cultures and suggested that Guandong should establish
Silk schools because the area was noted for its silk production, and that
Northern provinces should establish Forest schools to contribute to their local log industry. Ibid., 286.
64. Haifeng Liu (), Educational Angles of Civil Service Examinations (
) (Wuhan: Hubei Education Press, 1995), 215.
65. Ibid., 209.
66. Harold W. Stevenson and James W. Stigler, The Learning Gap: Why Our
Schools Are Failing and What We Can Learn from Japanese and Chinese Education
(New York: Simon and Schuster, 1992).
67. Randolph S. Bourne, Twilight of Idols, in War and the Intellectuals: Essays by Randolph S. Bourne, ed. Carl Resek (New York: Harper Torchbooks, 1964),
6061.
68. Qtd. in Westbrook, John Dewey and American Democracy, 383.
69. Ibid., 38687.
70. The translated essay, New Culture in China(), was published in the Morning Post, 2831 June, 1921.
71. The Chinese Philosophy of Life () was translated by
Yuzhi () and published in The Eastern Miscellany () 19 (1923): 2132.
A later title for the article was As the Chinese Think.

Chapter 4. Dewey as a Learner

1. Keenan, The Dewey Experiment, 25. Keenans judgment is based on
an article Dewey wrote about the New Culture movement in China in which
Dewey modestly acknowledged an intellectual debt to a Chinese friend for
explaining to him different stages of foreign inuence on China. Those who
were conversant with Deweys style would know that Dewey sometimes could
be overly modest.
2. John Dewey to Dewey children, Beijing, 1 June 1919, Correspondence,
no. 10759.
3. John Dewey to Dewey children, Beijing, 20 June 1919, Correspondence,
no. 10764.
4. See Westbrook, John Dewey and American Democracy, 86.
5. Ibid., 84.
6. Ibid., 88, 87.
7. Ibid., 88.
8. Dewey once compared Hu to another Chinese intellectual he met, saying that this man was more practical than our usual guide and philosopher
[meaning Hu]. John Dewey to Dewey children, 9 November 1919, Beijing, Correspondence, no. 03572.
9. In a letter on 2 June, 1919, either Alice or Dewey told their children:
Meanwhile, we wondered around, planned on how it [a particular object]
could be made into use when revolution comes. Get rid of the idea that China

Notes to Chapter 4

135

has had a revolution and is a republic. That point is just where we have been
deceived in the United States. Alice Chipman Dewey (or John Dewey?) to
Dewey children, Beijing, 2 June 1919, Correspondence, no. 10760.
10. John Dewey to Walter S. Drysdale, Beijing, 1 December 1920, Correspondence, no. 06412.
11. Alice Chipman Dewey to Dewey family, 13 June 1920, Hangzhou, Correspondence, no. 03937.
12. In his canonical work, The May Fourth Movement, Chow Tse-tsung drew
substantially from Deweys insightful comments about May Fourth China.
13. See Ryan, John Dewey and High Tide of American Liberalism, 204.
14. John Dewey to Albert C. Barnes, Beijing, 15 September 1919, Correspondence, no. 04103.
15. John Dewey to Herbert W. Schneider, Beijing, 3 January 1921, Correspondence, no. 03491.
16. John Dewey to Albert C. Barnes, Beijing, 15 September 1919, Correspondence, no. 04103.
17. John Dewey to Dewey children, Beijing, 1 June 1919, Correspondence, no.
10759.
18. Michael Eldridge, Transforming Experience: John Deweys Cultural Instrumentalism (Nashville, TN: Vanderbilt University Press, 1998), 14.
19. Alice Chipman Dewey to Frederick A. Dewey, Beijing, 15 February 1920,
Correspondence, no. 03585.
20. John Dewey to Dewey children, Beijing, 9 November 1919, Correspondence, no. 03572.
21. John Dewey to John Jacob Coss, Beijing, 13 January 1920, Correspondence, no. 04882.
22. John Dewey to Albert C. Barnes, Beijing, 15 October, 1920, Correspondence, no. 04106.
23. Albert C. Barnes to John Dewey, Philadelphia, 4 January 1921, Correspondence, no. 04116.
24. John Dewey to Albert C. Barnes, Beijing, 13 March 1921, Correspondence,
no. 04120.
25. Feng, Russell and China, 214.
26. Bertrand Russell to Clifford Allen, Beijing, 13 December 1920, The Selected Letters, 213.
27. Bertrand Russell to Colette ONeil, Beijing, 6 January 1921, The Selected
Letters, 216. Russell proposed the plan for his book to a publisher immediately
after he returned to England because he needed the money to support his newborn child. Clark Ronald, The Life of Bertrand Russell (New York: Knopf, 1976).
28. John Macrae to John Dewey, New York, 28 October 1919, Correspondence,
no. 04704. A short collection of Deweys essays related to the Washington Conference was published in 1921, with the title, China, Japan and the U. S. A. (New
York: Republic Publishing, 1921).
29. Walter Lippmann to John Dewey, Wading, 16 June 1921, Correspondence,
no. 05208.

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john dewey in china

30. Russell said that the distinctive merit of Western civilization is the scientic method, whereas the distinctive merit of the Chinese is a just conception
of the ends of life. Bertrand Russell, The Problem of China, 205.
31. C. F. Remer, John Deweys Responsibility for American Opinion, Millards Review 13 (10 July 1920): 32122.
32. In 1946 when Dewey received the invitation to lecture in China, he
decided to accept it, even though his family was concerned for his safety and
health. However, the invitation was cancelled due to unsettling political situations. Jay Martin, The Education of John Dewey, 32627.
33. Jane Dewey, Biography of John Dewey, in The Philosophy of John Dewey,
ed. Paul Arthur Schillipp (Chicago: Northwestern University Press, 1939), 42.
34. Jonathan Spence, To Change China: Western Advisors in China, 16201960
(New York: Penguin Books, 1980), 29092.
35. Qtd. in Martin, 318.
36. Steven C. Rockefeller, John Dewey: Religious Faith and Democratic Humanism (New York: Columbia University Press, 1991), 312.
37. John Dewey to John Jacob Coss, Beijing, 1 April 1920, Correspondence,
no. 04884.
38. John Dewey to James H. Tufts, Beijing, 23 February 1921, Correspondence, no. 07207.
39. These selected letters were published in 1920 under the title, Letters from
China and Japan.
40. Reviewed in Boston Evening Transcript, 1 June 1920; in New York Tribune,
16 May 1920; in Pacic Review, December 1920, 42930, by J. E. P. However, two
reviews were critical. One criticized Deweys literary utterances and paucity of
expression, which Otto Keller reviewed in St. Louis Post-Dispatch, 7 August 1920.
Another reviewer faulted the Deweys for misspelling Japanese words, saying
that one ought to feel astonished that our travelers ever undertook their journey to the Orient, with their complete ignorance of it, its soul, its history, its
problems. It is never too late to learn and the Orient needs rst-hand study,
as reviewed in Unity, 4 November 1920. The accusation here is not quite fair, at
least, to Mrs. Dewey, who actually started to read up on Japanese civilization
and art when the plan for their trip was nalized. See Martin, The Education of
John Dewey, 310. Generally, Deweys impressions of Japan were thought to be
less penetrating than those of China.
41. John Jacob Coss to John Dewey, New York, 11 January 1921, Correspondence, no. 04889. According to the Center for Dewey Studies, no record shows
that Dewey had actually taught such a class.
42. Martin, 336.
43. David Sidorsky, Introduction to The Later Works of John Dewey: 1925
1953, vol. 3, in LW 3: xxxi.
44. Qtd. in Martin, 340.
45. John Dewey to John Jacob Coss, Beijing, 13 January 1920, Correspondence, no. 04882.
46. Martin, 364.
47. Ibid., 327.

Notes to Chapter 5

137

Chapter 5. The Inuence of China on Deweys

Social and Political Philosophy
1. Donald F. Koch, Internal Conict and the Development of Deweys
Moral, Political and Legal Philosophy, in Research in the History of Economic
Thought and Methodology, ed. Warren J. Samuels and Donald F. Koch (Greenwich, CT: Jai Press, 1989), 36.
2. Gary Bullert, The Politics of John Dewey (New York: Prometheus Books,
1983), 39.
3. John Dewey to James H. Tufts, Beijing, 23 February 1921, Correspondence, no. 07207.
4. John Dewey to Dewey children, Shanghai, 13 May 1919, Correspondence, no. 10754.
5. Ibid.
6. Peter Manicas, John Dewey: Anarchism and the Political State, qtd.
in Sor-hoon Tan, Confucian Democracy: A Deweyan Reconstruction (Albany: State
University of New York Press, 2003), 124.
7. Jonathan G. Utley, American Views of China, 19001915, in America
Views China: American Images of China Then and Now, ed. Jonathan Goldstein, Jerry
Israel, and Hilary Conroy (Bethlehem, PA: Lehigh University Press, 1991).
8. Stephen C. Pepper, review of The Public and Its Problems, The International Journal of Ethics 38 (1928): 478.
9. Jim E. Tiles, Democracy as Culture, in Justice and Democracy: CrossCultural Perspectives, ed. Ron Bontekoe and Marietta Stepaniants (Honolulu:
University of Hawaii Press, 1997), 121.
10. Westbrook, John Dewey and American Democracy, 319.
11. Tan, Confucian Democracy, 284.
12. Samuel P. Huntington, Democracys Third Wave, Journal of Democracy
2 (1991), 24.
13. Wei-ming Tu, Confucian Ethics Today: The Singapore Challenge (Singapore:
Curriculum Development Institute of Singapore), 90.
14. David L. Hall and Roger T. Ames, The Democracy of the Dead: Dewey,
Confucius, and the Hope for Democracy in China (Chicago: Open Court, 1999), 7.
15. Steven J. Hood, The Myth of Asian-Style Democracy, Asian Survey 38
(1998): 85366.
16. Edward Friedman, Does China Have the Cultural Preconditions for
Democracy? Philosophy East and West 49 (1999), 354.
17. Hall and Ames, The Democracy of the Dead, 11.
18. Ibid., 176.
19. Tan, 572.
20. Hall and Ames, 21617.
21. Ibid., 173.
22. Ibid.
23. Ibid., 205.
24. Hall and Ames, 160.
25. Tan, 587.

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john dewey in china

26. Hall and Ames, 184.

27. Qtd. in Russell Fox, Confucian and Communitarian Response to Liberal Democracy, The Review of Politics 59 (1997), 579.
28. Hall and Ames, 160.
29. Russell Fox, 582.
30. Ibid., 584.
31. Hall and Ames, 158.
32. Tan, 100.
33. Ibid., 104.
34. Hall and Ames, 165.
35. Ibid., 166.

Chapter 6. Continuing the Dialogue on Dewey and China

1. Tao transformed Deweys education as life to life as education,
his school as society to society as school, and his learning by doing to
teaching, learning and reective doing. Zhixin Su, Teaching, Learning and
Reective Acting: A Dewey Experiment in Chinese Teacher Education, Teachers College Record 98 (1996).
2. Feng was the author of A History of Chinese Philosophy, trans. Derk
Bodde (Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press, 1952).
3. Youlan Feng, Why China Has No Science: An Interpretation of the
History and Consequences of Chinese Philosophy, International Journal of Ethics 32 (1922). Feng opened his essay by acknowledging Deweys insights about
China. Interestingly, Fengs essay appeared around the same time as Deweys
As the Chinese Think. A receptive reader may wonder whether Deweys
essay had any similarities with that of Feng. To answer the question, I studied Fengs essay and checked his book on the history of Chinese philosophy, I
found that Deweys interpretation of the Taoist concept of nonaction as an act
of moral doing was uniquely his own.
4. Westbrook, 321.
5. Youlan Feng, The Hall of Three Pines, trans. Denis C. Maire (Honolulu:
University of Hawaii Press, 2000), 21415.
6. Ibid., 212.
7. Qtd. in Westbrook, 322.
8. Shuming Liang, Fundamental Ideas in Deweys Philosophy of Education (), in A Collection of Educational Essays by Liang
Shuming (), ed. Qiufan Ma (Beijing: Peoples Education Press,
1994), 120.
9. The mainstream Western intellectual orientation to which Liang referred probably was the postwar crisis of meaning.
10. Ibid., 122.
11. Remer, John Dewey in China, 267.
12. Democratic liberalism, as Liang understood it, was not in keeping with
the spirit of the Chinese people because it required each citizen to assert his or
her individual liberties. Chinese social life was characterized by contentedness

Notes to Chapter 6

139

and forbearance, which Liang considered to be unique virtues. The Chinese

would not assert or ght for individual liberties as Europeans do because the
Chinese lacked a solid concept of the individual self. Shuming Liang, A Final
Reection on the National Salvation Movement in China (
) (Taipei: Academic Press, 1971), 11722.
13. Ibid., 184.
14. Peter Singer, One World: The Ethics of Globalization (New Haven, CT: Yale
University Press, 2002).

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BIBLIOGRAPHY

E
Books and Essays by John Dewey Referred to in the Text
In order of appearance in The Collected Works of John Dewey, 18821953: The Electronic Edition. Edited by Larry A. Hickman. Charlottesville, VA: InteLex,
1996. Early Works, Middle Works, and Later Woks refer to The Early Works,
18811898 (5 volumes), The Middle Works, 18991924 (15 volumes), and The
Later Works, 19251953 (17 volumes).

Books
German Philosophy and Politics. In Middle Works 8: 135204.
Democracy and Education. In Middle Works 9.
Reconstruction in Philosophy. In Middle Works 12: 79201.
The Public and Its Problems. In Later Works 2: 235381
Ethics . In Later Works 7.
Art as Experience. In Later Works 10.
Liberalism and Social Action. In Later Works 11: 365.
Freedom and Culture. In Later Works 13: 65188.
Lectures in China, 19191920. Edited and translated by Robert W. Clopton and
Tsuin-chen Ou. Honolulu: University of Hawaii Press, 1973.

Essays
The Ethics of Democracy. In Early Works 1: 22850.
Interest in Relation to the Training of the Will. In Early Works 5: 11346.
Progress? In Middle Works 10: 23443.
Conscience and Compulsion. In Middle Works 10: 26065.
On the Two Sides of the Eastern Sea. In Middle Works 11: 17479.
The Discrediting of Idealism. In Middle Works 11: 18085.
The Student Revolt in China. In Middle Works 11: 18691.
The International Duel in China. In Middle Works 11: 19298.
Transforming the Mind of China. In Middle Works 11: 20514.
Chinese National Sentiment. In Middle Works 11: 21527.
The American Opportunity in China. In Middle Works 11: 22834.
Our Share in Drugging China. In Middle Works 11: 23540.
Our National Dilemma. In Middle Works 12: 37.
How Reaction Helps. In Middle Works 12: 1721.
The Sequel of the Student Revolt. In Middle Works 12: 2227.
141

142

john dewey in china

Shantung, as Seen from Within. In Middle Works 12: 2840.

The New Leaven in Chinese Politics. In Middle Works 12: 4150.
What Holds China Back? In Middle Works 12: 5159.
Is China a Nation? In Middle Works 13: 7278.
The Far Eastern Deadlock. In Middle Works 13: 7985.
Old China and New. In Middle Works 13: 93107.
New Culture in China. In Middle Works 13: 10820.
The Issues at Washington. In Middle Works 13: 17390.
America and Chinese Education. In Middle Works 13: 22832.
Federalism in China. In Middle Works 13: 14955.
A Parting of the Ways for America. In Middle Works 13: 15990.
As the Chinese Think. In Middle Works 13: 21527.
Divided China. In Middle Works 13: 12738.
The Tenth Anniversary of the Republic of China. In Middle Works 13: 14748.
China and the West. In Middle Works 15: 21518.
We Should Deal with China as a Nation to Nation. In Middle Works 15: 18588.
America and the Far East. In Later Works 2: 17375.
Creative DemocracyThe Task before Us. In Later Works 14: 22552.

Letters Written by and to Dewey Quoted in the Text

The Correspondence of John Dewey [CD-ROM]. Edited by Larry A. Hickman. Charlottesville, VA: InteLex, 2002.

Printed Lectures and Books by Dewey in Chinese

John Deweys Five Major Lecture Series (). Translated by Hu Shih (
). Hefai: Anhui Education Press, 1999.
Present Opportunities for the Teaching Profession (). Morning Post (), 24 June 1921, sec. 7.
Democratic Developments in America (). Awakening (), 21
June 1919, sec. 8.
New Culture in China (). Morning Post (), 2831 June 1921.
Chinese Philosophy of Life (). Translated by Yuzhi (). The
Eastern Miscellany () 19 (1923): 2132.

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Randolph S. Bourne, edited by Carl Resek, 5364. New York: Harper Torchbooks, 1964.
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Cauvel, Jane. Deweys Message to China. In Hypatia: Essays in Classics, Comparative Literature, and Philosophy, edited by William M. Calder III, Ulrich K.
Goldsmith, and Phyllis B. Kenevan, 22739. Boulder: Colorado Associated
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Dewey, Jane. Biography of John Dewey. In The Philosophy of John Dewey,
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Dirlik, Arif. The Origins of Chinese Communism. New York: Oxford University
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Eldridge, Michael. Transforming Experience: John Deweys Cultural Instrumentalism. Nashville, TN: Vanderbilt University Press, 1998.
Feinberg, Walter. Review of John Dewey: Lectures in China, 191920. Philosophy
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Feng, Youlan. The Hall of Three Pines. Translated by Denis C. Mair. Honolulu:
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Fox, Russell Arben. Confucian and Communitarian Responses to Liberal
Democracy. The Review of Politics 59 (1997): 56192.
Friedman, Edward. Does China Have the Cultural Preconditions for Democracy?Philosophy East and West 49 (1999): 34659.
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2003.
Grieder, Jerome B. Hu Shih and the Chinese Renaissance. Cambridge, MA: Harvard
University Press, 1970.
Hale, Robert Lee. Notes from John Deweys Lectures on Moral and Political
Philosophy: October 1915January 1916. In Research in the History of Economic Thought and Methodology: Lectures by John Dewey, edited by Warren J.
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Hall, David L., and Roger T. Ames. The Democracy of the Dead: Dewey, Confucius
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Huntington, Samuel P. Democracys Third Wave. Journal of Democracy 2 (1991):
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Keenan, Barry. The Dewey Experiment in China: Educational Reform and Political
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Keller, Otto. Review of Letters from China and Japan. St. Louis Post-Dispatch, 7
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Koch, Donald F. Internal Conict and the Development of Deweys Moral, Political and Legal Philosophy. In Research in the History of Economic Thought and

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Methodology: Lectures by John Dewey, Moral and Political Philosophy, edited by

Warren J. Samuels and Donald F. Koch. Greenwich, CT: Jai Press, 1989.
Lin, Yu-sheng. The Crisis of Chinese Consciousness: Radical Antitraditionalism in the
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Martin, Jay. The Education of John Dewey: A Biography. New York: Columbia University Press, 2002.
Meisner, Maurice. Li Ta-Chao and the Origin of Chinese Marxism. Cambridge, MA:
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Moorehead, Caroline. Bertrand Russell: A Life. New York: Viking, 1992.
Ou, Tsuin-chen. Deweys Lectures and Inuence in China. In Guide to the
Works of John Dewey, edited by Ann Boydston, 33962. Carbondale: Southern Illinois University Press, 1970.
P., J. E. Review of Letters from China and Japan. Pacic Review, December 1920,
42930.
Pepper, Stephen C. Review of The Public and Its Problems. International Journal of
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Pepper, Suzanne. Radicalism and Education Reform in 20th Century China. New
York: Cambridge University Press, 1996.
Remer, C. F. John Dewey in China. Millards Review 13 (3 July 1920): 26668.
. John Deweys Responsibility for American Opinion. Millards Review
13 (10 July 1920): 32122.
Review of Letters from China and Japan. Boston Evening Transcript, 1 June 1920.
Review of Letters from China and Japan. New York Tribune, 16 May 1920.
Review of Letters from China and Japan. Unity, 4 November 1920.
Rockefeller, Steven C. John Dewey: Religious Faith and Democratic Humanism. New
York: Columbia University Press, 1991.
Ronald, W. Clark. The Life of Bertrand Russell. New York: Knopf, 1976.
Ross, Ralph. Introduction to The Middle Works of John Dewey. Vol. 12, The Collected
Works of John Dewey, 18821953: The Electronic Edition, edited by Larry A.
Hickman, ixxxx. Charlottesville, VA: InteLex, 1996.
Russell, Bertrand. The Problem of China. London: Allen and Unwin, 1922.
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by Nicholas Grifn. London: Routledge, 2001.
Ryan, Alan. John Dewey and the High Tide of American Liberalism. New York: Norton, 1995.
Schwarcz, Vera. The Chinese Enlightenment: Intellectuals and the Legacy of the May
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Schwartz, Benjamin I. Chinese Communism and the Rise of Mao. Cambridge, MA:
Harvard University Press, 1951.
Sidorsky, David. Introduction to The Later Works of John Dewey. Vol. 3, The Collected Works of John Dewey, 18821953: The Electronic Edition, edited by Larry
A. Hickman, ixxxxiii. Charlottesville, VA: InteLex, 1996.
Singer, Peter. One World: The Ethics of Globalization. New Haven, CT: Yale University Press, 2002.
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Stevenson, Harold W., and James W. Stigler. The Learning Gap: Why Our Schools
Are Failing and What We Can Learn from Japanese and Chinese Education. New
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Su, Zhixin. Teaching, Learning and Reective Acting: A Dewey Experiment in
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Sun, Youzhong. John Dewey in China: Yesterday and Today. Transactions of the
Charles S. Pierce Society 35 (1999): 6988.
Tan, Sor-hoon. Confucian Democracy: A Deweyan Reconstruction. Albany: State
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. Chinas Pragmatist Experiment in Democracy: Hu Shihs Pragmatism and Deweys Inuence in China. In The Range of Pragmatism and the
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Tiles, Jim E. Democracy as Culture. In Justice and Democracy: Cross-Cultural
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Honolulu: University of Hawaii Press, 1997.
Tu, Wei-ming. Confucian Ethics Today: The Singapore Challenge. Singapore: Curriculum Development Institute of Singapore, 1984.
Utley, Jonathan G. American Views of China, 19001915. In America Views
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. What Is New Education? (). A Collection of Educational
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. A Letter to Mr. Russell from Duxiu (). In Russell on
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D., T. A Critique of Deweys Lecture (). Awakening (), 18 June

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Feng, Chongyi (). Russell and China (). Beijing: Sanlian Bookstore, 1998.
Fulu () []. Dr. Dewey Is Gone Today (). Morning Post
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. Mr. Russell Is also Gone Today (). Morning Post (
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Gao, Juemin (). The Problems of Americanized Education (
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Zhixi () []. Dr. Deweys School and Society ().
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INDEX

E
Confucian democracy, 11, 11517, 120
Confucianism: Confucius, relations
with Dewey, 7, 11, 14, 26; Liang
Shuming, in defense of, 54, 123; ;
Russell on, 14; under attack during
May Fourth, 8, 14, 53
Creative DemocracyThe Task before Us, 113
Critical Review (Chinese periodical), 54
cultural reformism, of Hu Shih, 30, 35,
36, 37

Addams, Jane, 31, 84

America and the Far East, 73
Ames, Roger T., 117, 118, 119, 120
anarchism, 28, 46, 68
Art as Experience, 114, 122
As the Chinese Think, 62, 80, 81
Asia, 8, 80, 85
Awakening (Chinese periodical), 44, 45
Babbitt, Irving, 33, 54, 55. See also Mei
Guangdi
Barnes, Alert C., 4, 51, 79
Bergson, Henri, 23, 53, 127n28
Boan, 44
Bolsheviks and World Politics (Russell), 27
Bolshevism (bolshevik), 24, 41, 46, 47,
49; Dewey on, 50; Russell on, 2729
Bourne, Randolph S., 61, 84
Boxer Uprising, 2
Bullert, Gary, 89
Cai Yuanpei, 14
Characters and Events, 80
Chen Duxiu, 14, 36, 63; initial interest
in Dewey, 4748; letter to Russell, 27;
on new education, 60
Chinas Road to Freedom (Russell),
2729
Chinese National Sentiment, 98
Chinese Philosophy of Life, 62, 80
Chow, Tse-tsung, 32, 48, 50, 135n15
Clopton, Robert W., 5, 126n18, 129n56
Communism, Chinese: Dewey, comment on, 50; founding of party, 27,
41; government, purging of pragmatism, 9, 36, 41; Russian inuences
on, 47

Dalton Plan, 56
Daoism, 14, 80
Darwinism, 15
Democracy and Education, 13, 54, 55, 60,
105, 107, 113, 114, 123
Dewey, Alice Chipman, 3, 34, 66, 67,
69, 134n9
Dewey, Jane, 85
Dewey, John: on Chinese philosophy of life, 62, 8081; on Chinese
revolutionary idealism, 5051; on
Chinese social psychology, 77; in
comparison with Russell, 2629;
decision to visit China, 34; on
democracy as a way of life, 11315;
Dewey experiment in China,
6, 10, 35, 6263; on differences
between Japan and China, 4; differences with Hu Shih, 35, 38, 39,
65, 67, 83; on Eurocentrism, 75;
farewell banquet for, 29; on handsoff policy, 7273; on Hegels theory
of state, 9394; on his own inuence in China, 6, 39; on interest and
discipline, 5759; on internationalism, 8792, 124; on Marxism, 19,

149

150

john dewey in china

53, 68; on May Fourth movement,

5, 11, 63, 6870, 97; multiple roles
in China, 5, 63; on New Culture
movement, 6970; on passivity of
the Chinese, 25, 75, 77; on Russell,
25, 29, 82; on U.S. national psychology, 9091; on wuwei, 80, 138n3;
Xiping, in defense of, 4445. See
also lectures in China
Dirlik, Arif, 46, 49, 50
Dowager (Chinese empress), 2
Eastern and Western Cultures and Their
Philosophies, 54. See Liang Shuming
Ethics, 113
Ethics of Democracy, 106, 107, 114
Eurocentrism, 10, 75
Experience and Nature, 122, 123
Federalism in China, 72
Fei Juetian, 47, 5053
Feng Youlan, 122
Fox, Russell Arben, 119
Freedom and Culture, 11213
Friedman, Edward, 116
George III (British king), 1
German Philosophy and Politics, 87, 89, 93
Grieder, Jerome B., 35, 47
Gu, Hongliang, 126n32, 131n93
Guangxu (Chinese emperor), 2
Hall, David L., 117, 120
hands-off policy, 72, 73, 74
Hegel, Georg Wilhelm Frederich, 9394
Hook, Sidney, 61
Hu Shih, 3, 4, 9, 10, 13, 22, 23, 3039,
42, 43, 49, 54, 57, 63, 65, 67, 70, 83,
98, 122, 126n32, 127n11, 129n67,
130n82, 130n93, 131n94; and cultural
reformism, 30, 3539; debates with
Li Dazhao, 3334; differences with
Dewey, 35, 38, 39, 65, 67, 83; dispute with Mei Guangdi, 3233; on
total Westernization, 10, 32, 129n67;
treatment of pragmatism, 3435, 38
Human Nature and Conduct, 122
Huntington, Samuel P., 116

International Duel in China, 71

internationalism, 11, 87, 8890, 91, 92,
94, 124
James, William, 23, 34
Keenan, Barry, 57, 35, 37, 65
Koch, Donald, 89
Laozi, 80
League of Nations, 89, 90, 92
lectures in China (Dewey): corpus of,
13; Democratic Developments in
America, 16, 31, 47; Importance
of Dynamic Morality, 25; Philosophy of Education, 20, 30; Present
Opportunities for the Teaching
Profession, 128n31; problems of
translation in, 3137; schedules of,
26; scholarly review of, 22; SelfActivity and Self-Government, 25;
Social and Political Philosophy,
13, 18, 30; topics of, 86; Types of
Thinking, 13, 15, 131n1
Li Dazhao, 3334, 47, 49
Liang Qichao, 53, 54, 127n28
Liang Shuming, 54, 63, 12324,
128n12
liberalism, 9, 47, 49, 68, 71, 82, 101, 105,
116, 117
Liberalism and Social Action, 112
Lin, Yu-sheng, 32, 35, 36
Lin, Zhaoyin, 55
Lippmann, Walter, 81, 85, 97, 112
Lo Jialun, 43
Martin, Jay, 7, 85, 86
Marxism, 9, 33, 44, 46, 50, 52; Dewey
on, 19, 53, 68
May Fourth movement (era, period),
1, 4, 7, 8, 53, 66, 125n1; Dewey on, 5,
11, 63, 6870, 97; differing opinions
between Dewey and Hu Shih about,
65; iconoclasm in, 14, 54; political
radicalism in, 4647; publications
in, 41; traditionalist sentiments in,
8, 5354
Mei Guangdi, 3233

Index

Meisner, Maurice, 35, 37

Mencius, 20
Mo Fenglin, 54, 55
Monroe, Paul, 56
Montessori methods, 56
Morning Post (Chinese newspaper),
43, 62
Mumford, Lewis, 61
neotraditionalism, 9, 62
New Culture in China, 62, 68
New Culture movement, 33, 34, 68;
Dewey on, 50, 62, 134n1
New Humanism, 33, 54, 55. See Irving
Babbitt
New Republic, 8, 66, 85
New Youth (Chinese periodical), 52
Opium War, 2, 91
Ou, Tsuin-chen, 5
Our National Dilemma, 90
Our Share in Drugging China, 91
Outlawry of War movement, 73, 84
Pepper, Suzanne, 6
Phantom Public (Lippmann), 97
pragmatism: as alternative to Confucianism, 7; Boan, in defense of, 44;
challenges for, in global context,
10, 38; Chinese revival of interest in, 9, 11; and commonalities
with Confucianism, 11, 11720; as
coping-with-the-environment-ism,
5657; in debate with Marxism,
3334; failure of, in China, 35; Hu
Shih, as alleged spokesman of, 122;
Hu Shihs treatment of, 3435, 38;
Marxist critique of, 52; as opposed
to New Humanism, 33; purging of,
by Chinese Communist government, 9, 36, 41; as social and political thought, 2223, 84; as Western
imperialism, 9
Problem of China (Russell), 29, 81;
Dewey on, 82
Progress?, 37
Public and Its Problems, 87, 92, 94, 97,
98, 100107, 111, 112, 113, 122

151

Pullman Strike, 66, 67

Qianlong (Chinese emperor), 1, 2
Qu Qiubai, 47, 52, 53
Quest for Certainty, 86
Reconstruction in Philosophy, 13, 94, 101,
107, 123
Reform and Open Door Policy, 9
Remer, C. F., 29, 39, 40, 82, 123
Rockefeller, Steven C., 84
Rosemont, Henry, 119
Russell, Bertrand, 7, 10, 23, 24, 25, 41,
81, 82, 119; on Bolshevism, 2729;
as compared with Dewey, 2629;
lectures in China, 26; leftists interest
in, 4546; and Problem of China, 29,
81; Russell Marriage, 27; as Second
Confucius, 14
Ryan, Allan, 7, 8, 73
School and Society, 13
Schools of Tomorrow, 13
Schwartz, Benjamin I., 47, 49
Sino-Japanese War, 2
Sizer, Nancy F., 35
socialism, 19, 24, 28, 41, 44, 45, 46, 50,
52, 68, 69
Spence, Jonathan D., 83
Sun Fuyuan, 46
Sun Yat-sen, 81
syndicalism, 23, 28, 46
Tagore, Rabindranath, 56, 133n55
Tan, Sor-hoon, 35, 38, 114, 117, 118, 119,
120
Tao Xingzhi, 122
Tiles, Jim, 112
traditionalist, 7, 8, 10, 2324, 53, 56,
123. See also under May Fourth
movement
Transforming the Mind of China, 6
Tu, Wei-ming, 116
Twenty-One Demands, 125n1
Versailles Peace Conference, 1, 4, 70,
84, 89, 97
Westbrook, Robert, 6, 62, 67, 112, 123

152

john dewey in china

Westernization, full-scale (total), 10, 32,

129n67. See also Hu Shih
What Holds China Back?, 77
World War I (Great War), 18, 23, 93
Wu Jiangling, 55

Wuwei (nonaction), Dewey on, 80,

138n3
Xiping, 4445
Zhenying, 45, 46

PHILOSOPHY / ASIAN STUDIES

John Dewey
in China
To Teach and To Learn
Jessica Ching-Sze Wang
Combining biography with philosophy, this book explores John Deweys two-year
trip to China (19191921) and its legacy for him as a teacher and a learner. Jessica
Ching-Sze Wang looks at how Dewey was received in China, what he learned, and
how he was changed as a result. She examines the intriguing dynamics shaping
Chinas reactions to Dewey and Deweys interpretations of China, and details the
evolving process in which Dewey came to understand China on its own terms, rather
than from Eurocentric perspectives. Tracing Chinas influence on Dewey, Wang
considers how his visit contributed to the subsequent development of his social and
political philosophy. China provided a unique vantage point for Dewey to observe
international politics, which led him to reconsider the meaning of internationalism.
Also, his exposure to Chinese communal culture enabled him to reject the
Western preoccupation with democracy in politics and to emphasize democracy
as all-encompassing culture. Finally, Wang discusses how Deweys own observations
and appraisals of Chinese society can give credence to the notion of Confucian
democracy for China.
The author pays careful attention to the details of the reception and influence of
John Deweys lectures in China and to the political, social, and personal contexts
that shaped Chinas reaction to Dewey and Deweys reaction to China. There is no
book as complete as this one for treating what Dewey taught and learned in China.
Richard Shusterman, author of Practicing Philosophy:
Pragmatism and the Philosophical Life
Jessica Ching-Sze Wang is Assistant Professor of Education and Philosophy at
National Chiayi University in Taiwan.
A volume in the SUNY series in Chinese Philosophy and Culture
Roger T. Ames, editor
ISBN: 978-0-7914-7203-3
EAN

State University of New York Press

www.sunypress.edu

9 780791 472033

90000 >